The main purpose of the KUOS center was the regular and irregular combat training of KGB Academy cadets as part of the establishment's curriculum. The secondary purpose was in case of a rising tension in a specific region to generate a tailored task group out of the cadets currently in an advanced stage of their training. Such example is the "Operation Storm-333" ("Операция Шторм-333"), which gained a legendary status in Russia. From the cadre of KUOS the Special Operations Task Group "Zenyth" was formed to take part in the liquidation of the Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin alongside the Team (Russian for "Thunder") of the KGB's Alpha Group. The "Zenyth" Task Group was headed personally by the director of KUOS Colonel Grigoriy Boyarinov (who was in charge of the KUOS since it became an independent structure in 1969). Since Hafizullah Amin came to power by ordering the assassination of his predecessor Nur Muhammad Taraki and fearing he would be ousted from power the same way he asked the Soviet government to provide his protective detail. The combined KGB "Grom" and "Zenyth" contingent was deployed in that role, wearing Afghan army uniforms without identification. Later, when the Soviet leadership re-evaluated the situation and ordered a military intervention the dual characteristics of those KGB officers as intelligence operatives with advanced combat training and their location within the Presidential Palace made them ideal to both gather intel on the actions of the Afghan leadership and spearhead the assault on the residence, opening the way for the "Muslim Battalion" (154th Special Operations Independent Force – "154-й Отдельный отряд специального назначения") of the GRU Spetsnaz. Col. Boyarinov was killed in the fighting along with 5 operatives of "Grom" and "Zenyth". "Storm-333" is a rare example of KGB Spetsnaz and GRU Spetsnaz operating in concert.