Spetsnaz: The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces Read online

  At the end of the 1960s it was recognised that a sports company or a

  sports battalion was too much of a contradiction in terms. It could arouse

  unnecessary attention from outsiders. So the sports units were disbanded and

  in their place came the sports teams. The change was purely cosmetic. The

  sports teams of the military districts, groups, fleets and so forth exist as

  independent units. The soldiers, sergeants, praporshiki and officers who

  belong to them are not serving in army regiments, brigades or divisions.

  Their service is in the sports team under the control of the district's

  headquarters. The majority of these sportsmen are carefully screened and

  recruited for spetsnaz training to carry out the most risky missions behind

  the enemy's lines. Usually they are all obliged to take part in parachute

  jumping, sambo, rifle-shooting, running and swimming, apart from their own

  basic sport.

  A person looking at the teams of the military districts, groups and so

  forth with an untrained eye will notice nothing unusual. It is as though

  spetsnaz is a completely separate entity. Every athlete and every small

  group have their own individual tasks and get on with them: running,

  swimming, jumping and shooting. But later, in the evenings, in closed,

  well-guarded premises, they study topography, radio communications,

  engineering and other special subjects. They are regularly taken off

  secretly in ones and twos or groups, or even regiments to remote parts where

  they take part in exercises. Companies and regiments of professional

  athletes in spetsnaz exist only temporarily during the exercises and alerts,

  and they then quietly disperse, becoming again innocent sections and teams

  able at the right moment to turn into formidable fighting units.

  According to Colonel-General Shatilov, the athlete is more energetic

  and braver in battle, has more confidence in his strength, is difficult to

  catch unawares, reacts quickly to changes of circumstance and is less liable

  to tire. There is no disputing this. A first-class athlete is primarily a

  person who possesses great strength of will, who has defeated his own

  laziness and cowardice, who has forced himself to run every day till he

  drops and has trained his muscles to a state of complete exhaustion. An

  athlete is a man infected by the spirit of competition and who desires

  victory in a competition or battle more than the average man.

  ___

  In the sports sections and teams of the military districts, groups,

  armies, fleets, flotillas there is a very high percentage of women also

  engaged in sport and who defend the honour of their district, group and so

  forth. Like the men, the women are given military rank and, like the men,

  are recruited into spetsnaz.

  There are no women in the usual spetsnaz units. But in the professional

  sports units of spetsnaz women constitute about half the numbers. They

  engage in various kinds of sport: parachute jumping, gliding, flying,

  shooting, running, swimming, motocross, and so on. Every woman who joins

  spetsnaz has to engage in some associated forms of sport apart from her own

  basic sport, and among these are some that are obligatory, such as sambo,

  shooting and a few others. The woman have to take part in exercises along

  with the men and have to study the full syllabus of subjects necessary for

  operating behind the enemy's lines.

  That there should be such a high percentage of women in the

  professional sports formations of spetsnaz is a matter of psychology and

  strategy: if in the course of a war a group of tall, broadshouldered young

  men were to appear behind the lines this might give rise to bewilderment,

  since all the men are supposed to be at the front. But if in the same

  situation people were to see a group of athletic-looking girls there would

  be little likelihood of any alarm or surprise.

  ___

  To be successful in war you have to have a very good knowledge of the

  natural conditions in the area in which you are to be operating: the terrain

  and the climate. You must have a good idea of the habits of the local

  population, the language and the possibilities of concealment; the forests,

  undergrowth, mountains, caves, and the obstacles to be overcome; the rivers,

  ravines and gullies. You must know the whereabouts of the enemy's military

  units and police, the tactics they employ and so forth.

  A private in the average spetsnaz unit cannot, of course, visit the

  places where he is likely to have to fight in the event of war. But a

  top-class professional athlete does have the opportunity. The Soviet Army

  takes advantage of such opportunities.

  For example, in 1984 the 12th world parachuting championship took place

  in France. There were altogether twenty-six gold medals to be competed for,

  and the Soviet team won twenty-two of them. The `Soviet team' was in fact a

  team belonging to the armed forces of the USSR. It consisted of five men and

  five women: a captain, a senior praporshik, three praporshiki, a senior

  sergeant and four sergeants. The team's trainer, its doctor and the whole of

  the technical personnel were Soviet officers. The Soviet reporter

  accompanying the team was a colonel. This group of `sportsmen' spent time in

  Paris and in the south of France. A very interesting and very useful trip,

  and there were other Soviet officers besides -- for example a colonel who

  was the trainer of the Cuban team.

  Now let us suppose a war has broken out. The Soviet Army must

  neutralise the French nuclear capability. France is the only country in

  Europe, apart from the Soviet Union itself, that stores strategic nuclear

  missiles in underground silos. The silos are an extremely important target,

  possibly the most important in Europe. The force that will put them out of

  action will be a spetsnaz force. And who will the Soviet high command send

  to carry out the mission? The answer is that, after the world parachuting

  championship, they have a tailor-made team.

  It is often claimed that sport improves relations between countries.

  This is a strange argument. If it is the case, why did it not occur to

  anyone before the Second World War to invite German SS parachutists to their

  country to improve relations with the Nazis?

  At the present time every country has good grounds for not receiving

  any Soviet military athletes on its own territory. The USSR should not be

  judged on its record. To take three cases: the Soviet Government sent troops

  into Czechoslovakia temporarily. We of course trust the statements made by

  the Soviet Government and know that after a certain time the Soviet troops

  will be withdrawn from Czechoslovakia. But until that happens there are

  sufficient grounds for `temporarily' not allowing the Soviet Army into any

  free country.

  Secondly, the Soviet Union introduced a `limited' contingent of its

  troops into Afghanistan. The Soviet leaders' idea was that the word

  `limited' would serve to reassure everyone -- there would be grounds for

  concern if there were an `unlimited' contingent of Soviet troops in

  Afghanistan. But so long as the `limited' contingent
of Soviet troops is

  still in Afghanistan it would not be a bad idea to limit the number of

  Soviet colonels, majors, captains and sergeants in the countries of the

  West, especially those wearing blue berets and little gilt parachute badges

  on their lapels. It is those people in the blue berets who are killing

  children, women and old men in Afghanistan in the most brutal and ruthless

  way.

  Thirdly, a Soviet pilot shot down a passenger plane with hundreds of

  people in it. After that, is there any sense in meeting Soviet airmen at

  international competitions and finding out who is better and who is worse?

  Surely the answer is clear, without any competition.

  Sport is politics, and big-time sport is big-time politics. At the end

  of the last war the Soviet Union seized the three Baltic states of Estonia,

  Latvia and Lithuania and the West has never recognised the Soviet Union's

  right to those territories. All right, said the Soviet leaders, if you won't

  recognise it de jure, recognise it de facto. A great deal has been done,

  some of it with the help of sport. During the Moscow Olympic Games some of

  the competitions took place in Moscow and some of them in the occupied

  territories of the Baltic states. At that time I talked to a number of

  Western politicians and sportsmen. I asked them: if the Soviet Union had

  occupied Sweden, would they have gone to the Olympic Games in Moscow? With

  one indignant voice they replied, `No!' But if parts of the Games had taken

  place in Moscow and part in Stockholm would they have gone to occupied

  Stockholm? Here there was no limit to their indignation. They considered

  themselves people of character and they would never have gone to occupied

  countries. Then why, I asked, did they go to an Olympic Games, part of which

  took place in the occupied territory of the Baltic states? To that question

  I received no answer.

  ___

  The units made up of professional athletes in spetsnaz are an elite

  within an elite. They are made up of far better human material (some of

  Olympic standard), enjoy incomparably better living conditions and many more

  privileges than other spetsnaz units.

  In carrying out their missions the professional athletes have the right

  to make contact with spetsnaz agents on enemy territory and obtain help from

  them. They are in effect the advance guard for all the other spetsnaz

  formations. They are the first to be issued with latest weapons and

  equipment and the first to try out the newly devised and most risky kinds of

  operation. It is only after experiments have been carried out by the units

  of athletes that new weapons, equipment and ways of operating are adopted by

  regular spetsnaz units. Here is an example:

  In my book Aquarium, first published in July 1985, I described the

  period of my life when I served as an officer of the Intelligence

  directorate of a military district and often had to act as the personal

  representative of the district's chief of intelligence with the spetsnaz

  groups. The period I described was identified: it was after my return from

  `liberated' Czechoslovakia and before I entered the Military-Diplomatic

  Academy in the summer of 1970.

  I described the ordinary spetsnaz units that I had to deal with. One

  group carried out a parachute jump from 100 metres. Each man had just one

  parachute: in that situation a spare one was pointless. The jump took place

  over snow. Throughout the book I refer only to one type of parachute: the

  D-1-8. Four months later, in the magazine Sovetsky Voin for November 1985, a

  Lieutenant-General Lisov published what might be called the pre-history of

  group parachute jumps by spetsnaz units from critically low levels. The

  General describes a group jump from a height of 100 metres in which each man

  had only one parachute, and he explains that a spare one is not needed. The

  jump takes place over snow. The article refers to only one type of parachute

  -- the D-1-8.

  General Lisov was describing trials which were carried out from October

  1967 to March 1968. The General did not, of course, say why the trials were

  carried out and the word spetsnaz was not, of course, used. But he

  underlined the fact that the trial was not conducted because it had any

  connection with sport. On the contrary, according to the rules laid down by

  the international sports bodies at that time, anyone who during a contest

  opened his parachute less than 400 metres from the ground was disqualified.

  General Lisov conducted the trial contrary to all rules of the sport

  and not to demonstrate sporting prowess. The military athletes left the

  aircraft at a height of 100 metres, so their parachutes must have opened

  even lower down. The group jump took place simultaneously from several

  aircraft, with the parachutists leaving their plane at about one-second

  intervals. Each of them was in the air for between 9.5 and 13 seconds.

  General Lisov summed it up like this: 100 metres, 50 men, 23 seconds. An

  amazing result by any standards.

  The fifty men symbolised the fifty years of the Soviet Army. It was

  planned to carry out the jump of 23 February, 1968, on the Army's

  anniversary, but because of the weather it was postponed till 1 March.

  I could not have known at that time about General Lisov's trials. But

  it is now clear to me that the tactic that was being developed in the

  spetsnaz fighting units in 1969-70 had been initiated by professional

  military athletes a year before.

  This dangerous stunt was carried out in my ordinary spetsnaz unit in

  rather simpler conditions: we jumped in a group of thirteen men from the

  wide rear door of an Antonov-12 aircraft. The professionals described by

  General Lisov jumped from the narrow side doors of an Antonov-2, which is

  more awkward and dangerous. The professionals made the jump in a much bigger

  group, more closely together and with greater accuracy.

  In spite of the fact that the ordinary spetsnaz units did not succeed

  and will never succeed in achieving results comparable with those of the

  professional athletes, nevertheless the idea of the group jump from a height

  of a hundred metres provided the fighting units with an exceptionally

  valuable technique. The special troops are on the ground before the planes

  have vanished over the horizon, and they are ready for action before the

  enemy has had time to grasp what is happening. They need this technique to

  be able to attack the enemy without any warning at all. That is the reason

  for taking such a risk.

  During a war the fighting units of spetsnaz will be carrying out

  missions behind the enemy's lines. Surely the units of professional

  athletes, which are capable of carrying out extremely dangerous work with

  even greater precision and speed than the ordinary spetsnaz units, should

  not be left unemployed in wartime?

  ___

  Before leaving the subject entirely, I would like to add a few words

  about another use of Soviet athletes for terrorist operations. Not only the

  Soviet Army but also the Soviet state's punitive apparatus (known at various

  times as the NKVD, the MGB, the
MVD and the KGB) has its own sports

  organisation, Dinamo. Here are some illustrations of its practical

  application.

  `When the war broke out the "pure" parachutists disappeared, Anna

  Shishmareva joined the OMSBON. Anna Shishmareva is a famous Soviet woman

  athlete of the pre-war period, while OMSBON was a brigade of the NKVD's

  osnaz which I have already referred to. Another example: `Among the people

  in our osoby, as our unit was called, were many athletes, record holders and

  Soviet champions famous before the war. Finally: Boris Galushkin, the

  outstanding Soviet boxer of the pre-war period, was a lieutenant and worked

  as an interrogator in the NKVD. During the war he went behind the enemy

  lines in one of the osnaz units.

  I have quite a few examples in my collection. But the KGB and the

  Dinamo sports club are not my field of interest. I hope that one of the

  former officers of the KGB who has fled to the West will write in greater

  detail about the use of athletes in the Soviet secret police.

  However, I must also make mention of the very mysterious Soviet

  sporting society known as Zenit. Officially it belongs to the ministry for

  the aircraft industry. But there are some quite weighty reasons for

  believing that there is somebody else behind the club. The Zenit cannot be

  compared with the ZSKA or Dinamo in its sporting results or its popularity.

  But it occasionally displays a quite unusual aggressiveness in its efforts

  to acquire the best athletes. The style and the general direction of the

  training in the Zenit are very militarised and very similar to what goes on

  in the ZSKA and Dinamo. Zenit deserves greater attention than it has been

  shown. It is just possible that the researcher who studied Zenit and its

  connections seriously will make some surprising discoveries.

  --------

  Chapter 7. Selection and Training

  Between soldiers and their officers are the sergeants, an intermediate

  rank with its own internal seniority of junior sergeants, full sergeants,

  senior sergeant and starshina. The training of the sergeants is of critical

  importance in spetsnaz where discipline and competence are required to an

  even more stringent degree than in the everyday life of the armed forces.

  In normal circumstances training is carried out by special training

  divisions. Each of these has a permanent staff, a general, officers, warrant