Happy holiday, “polite people”!
On February 27, Russia celebrates the Day of “Polite People” or Special Operations Forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense for the sixth time. The corresponding decree of February 26, 2015 was signed by the President of Russia on the eve of the first anniversary of the Crimean Spring.
“Courtesy Day” is also so special because during the entire special operation, not a single shot was fired by Russian special forces and military personnel of other branches of the military who came to the aid of Crimea. That in itself is worth a lot and testifies to endurance and professionalism.
The special operations forces of the Russian Armed Forces, despite their youth, already have a rich history. And while quite a lot is known about their participation in the Crimean and Syrian events, the history of their creation is known to few people.
Now it’s crazy to remember this, but by the end of the 1993s, Russia actually did not have law enforcement agencies to conduct special operations abroad. The famous KGB Vympel detachment was disbanded by order of an angry Yeltsin in the fall of XNUMX for the refusal of special forces to storm the building of the Supreme Soviet of Russia.
The detachment was renamed "Vega" and transferred to the Minister of Internal Affairs Erin. Some of the Vympelovites remained to serve in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but most of the fighters either transferred to the related “Alpha” or left military service altogether.
The war in Chechnya, which showed the criminal fallacy of Yeltsin’s decision, forced the authorities to re-form the Vympel detachment. True, the newly created detachment became a backup for Alpha and was engaged in the fight against terrorism, and the Kremlin at that time was embarrassed to acquire a “long arm” for conducting overseas shadow operations, although in countries such as the USA, China, Israel, their own special forces not only continued exist, but were also noticeably strengthened, and the United States, in general, brought its SEALs, Rangers, Delta, and Marine reconnaissance under the overall command of SOCOM, strengthening them with its own aviation and communications.
As for Russia, for the creation of the MTR: a) there was a perceived need, b) there were traditions and personnel for the formation of a new type of special forces.
The backbone for the formation of the MTR was the special forces units of the GRU, airborne and border troops, as well as the special forces of the FSB/SVR.
One of the first who thought about recreating the long and strong “arm of the Kremlin” was Army General Anatoly Kvashnin, who headed the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces from 1997 to 2004.
The activities of Kvashnin, the former “jacket” and “two-viper”, as a military figure in Russia, are usually assessed negatively, blaming him for the huge losses of people and equipment during the storming of Grozny and the defeat of the army in the first Chechen campaign, but the goals of this article are far from being discussed mistakes and blunders of the former Chief of the General Staff.
It is a fact that on the eve of the second war in Chechnya, on the orders of Kvashnin, a Specialists Training Center was created within the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. Officers, warrant officers and soldiers of the 16th and 22nd GRU special forces brigades were recruited to the Center. In 1999, units of the Center were deployed in Chechnya. A sunflower was chosen as the emblem of the Center, since its location was chosen to be close to the Podsolnechnaya railway station, located near Solnechnogorsk.
The Center has developed five specializations: parachute, assault, mountain, maritime and security of high-ranking officials. The main direction is counter-terrorism: reconnaissance, search and destruction of bases of Chechen militants, elimination of groups and individual terrorists. In their work, the Center’s fighters worked closely with the special forces of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, GRU special forces and military intelligence units.
According to available information, after 2000, Center fighters with a sunflower on their chevron carried out special operations not only in Russia, but also in other countries. There is no need to talk about the details - they are unknown.
Around the same period, the Center changed its symbol from a sunflower to wings with an arrow and a tightly drawn bow, and began to be called “Senezh”. The center had yet to become the SOF that we know. The main obstacle to the creation of full-fledged Russian Special Operations Forces was a typical disease of that time - chronic underfunding and, to some extent, distrust from the top.
There is a legend that Anatoly Serdyukov, appointed Minister of Defense in 2007, played a serious role in the formation of the MTR. As is known, in his post Serdyukov caused great harm to the GRU special forces, transferring them to the subordination of the Ground Forces and ordering the disbandment of one of the most combat-ready brigades, the Berdskaya.
It should be noted that Serdyukov generally experienced an incomprehensible hostility to special forces, since at the end of his career as Minister of Defense he actually blocked the creation of “helicopter special forces” and all decisions on the formation of the Special Operations Forces Command (KSSO).
Having gone through a series of painful reforms, the KSSO was born with the appointment of Lieutenant General Alexander Miroshnichenko, a former fighter and commander of Alpha, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, as commander, who transferred much of his state security experience to the special forces of the Armed Forces with the involvement of Alpha officers.
At the initiative of Miroshnichenko, a squadron of Il-76 transport aircraft and a helicopter squadron were transferred from the Air Force to the KSSO. Another KSSO center has appeared - in Kubinka-2 near Moscow.
The General Staff liked the experience of the KSSO so much that General Nikolai Makarov, who headed it at the beginning of the 2013s, planned to deploy nine special forces brigades as part of the Command, but General Gerasimov, who replaced him in XNUMX, abandoned Napoleonic plans and proclaimed the creation of Special Operations Forces.
In fact, the MTR as a full-fledged combat unit took place only with the appointment of Sergei Shoigu as Minister of Defense and Valery Gerasimov as Chief of the General Staff.
The MTR was very lucky with its first commander. He became a special forces soldier, a graduate of the Ryazan Airborne School, Colonel Oleg Viktorovich Martyanov, an experienced combat officer who commanded a reconnaissance group and then a company of Special Forces in Afghanistan, a graduate of the Academy. Frunze and a holder of the Order of Courage for participation in the counter-terrorist operation in the Caucasus.
Service in the MTR was transferred to a contract basis, and the selection of personnel for the Senezh detachment was replenished from GRU special forces, paratroopers and marines, as well as from other branches of the Russian army. For example, from the signal troops and engineering troops. With Martyanov, the MTR received a constant influx of personnel from Alpha and Vympel. Before this, army men went into state security. A serious indicator of the prestige of the new type of military.
At the beginning of 2014, the MTR received a new commander - Major General Alexei Dyumin. A graduate of the Voronezh Military Engineering School of Communications, in 1999 Dyumin transferred from special communications to the Federal Security Service. He works in the personal security of Vladimir Putin, as head of security for Prime Minister Zubkov, and holds the position of adjutant to the President of Russia.
In 2012, Dyumin was transferred to deputy commander of the Special Forces, and in 2014, on the initiative of the president, he became commander of the special forces of the Armed Forces.
February 27, 2014 is the “finest hour” of General Dyumin. It was under his command that “polite people” ensured the bloodless reunification of Crimea with Russia, and his fighters became famous not only in the country, but throughout the world.
In 2015, Alexey Dyumin was promoted to the position of Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, and then Deputy Minister of Defense. Since September 22, 2016 - in the civil service - he becomes the governor of the Tula region.
In 2015, Dyumin was replaced as commander of the Special Operations Forces by border guard and Alfa member Alexander Matovnikov. Matovnikov devoted almost thirty years of his life to serving in Alpha. His record includes participation in both Chechen wars and in a number of counter-terrorism operations, including the storming of a hospital in Budyonnovsk and a concert building on Dubrovka.
In addition to gaining their own experience, Russian special forces are closely monitoring the development of their colleagues from the USA, China, Israel, France, Germany...
The MTR is distinguished from the GRU special forces and the Vympel detachment by a new structure, when special forces are brought under a single command, have their own aviation and other delivery vehicles, such as Raptor high-speed boats.
MTR fighters, in addition to standard weapons, have a wide selection of weapons for personal use. So, in addition to the usual AK-74, MTR special forces use Austrian Glock pistols, Finnish Sako-TRG sniper rifles, Austrian high-precision Steyer SSG 08, but for the most part they use domestic weapons: Pecheneg machine guns, large-caliber Kord , SVD-S rifles, Saiga-12S self-loading smoothbore shotguns, AGS-17 grenade launchers, SPG-9 Spear recoilless rifle, Kornet ATGM, Ratnik equipment, communications and night vision devices, and even robotic combat systems.
The tasks of the Russian MTR include the protection of Russian citizens in other countries, the evacuation of embassies, important officials, as well as special operations, such as preventive measures to destroy the leaders of gang groups, infrastructure facilities or weapons of other countries, anti-sabotage warfare, as well as the protection of strategic objects within our country .
As the Crimean events showed, one of the main tasks of special forces is to contribute to the cessation of hostilities with their presence. Not everyone is given this.
Special operations forces in Syria participated in the liberation of Aleppo and Palmyra. During the Islamist offensive on Palmyra (from the US area of responsibility), SOF fighters managed to ensure the withdrawal of Russian military advisers and Syrian citizens without losses.
In the spring of 2017, in the province of Aleppo, a group of 16 SOF fighters carried out tasks to direct Russian aircraft at enemy targets and armored vehicles. Once discovered, the group fought with 300 militants. During the unequal battle, Russian special forces managed to destroy a tank, two infantry fighting vehicles and a jihadmobile.
On May 24, 2017, President Putin nominated the group commander, Lieutenant Colonel D. (last name not disclosed), to the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. Other fighters received orders and medals.
In 2016, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko (born in 1990), a graduate of the Military Academy of Air Defense Forces who served as an aircraft controller, died the death of a hero. Being surrounded by militants, Prokhorenko did not give up, fought until the last bullet, and then called an airstrike on himself.
The Gold Star for Syria was awarded to Colonel Vadim Baykulov, a graduate of the Ryazan Airborne School, who served in “hot spots” in the North Caucasus and at one time commanded the 370th separate detachment of the Special Forces of the 16th (Chuchkovo) separate GRU brigade.
Despite their short existence, Russian special forces have already managed to establish themselves as real heroes and professionals. It is unlikely that any of their foreign colleagues will be able to compare with them in fighting spirit.
We congratulate the “polite people” of Russia on the holiday, we wish them successful completion of their tasks, while remaining alive and healthy. Happy holiday!
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