"GRU" is the English version of the Russian acronym ГРУ, which means Main Intelligence Directorate.
The GRU is Russia's largest foreign intelligence agency. In 1997 it had six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR (The SVR is the successor to the KGB's foreign operations directorate). The GRU commanded 25,000 Spetsnaz ('special') troops in 1997.
The GRU's first predecessor in post-tsarist Russia was created on October 21, 1918 under the sponsorship of Leon Trotsky, who was then the civilian overseer of the Red Army. It was originally known as the Registration Directorate ("Registrupravlenie", or RU). In his history of the early years of the GRU, Raymond W. Leonard writes:
"As originally established, the Registration Department was not directly subordinate to the General Staff [of] the Red Army... In 1921... it was elevated in status to become the Second (Intelligence) Directorate of the Red Army Staff.
It was given the task of handling all military intelligence, particularly the collection of intelligence of military or political significance from sources outside the Soviet Union. The GRU operated residencies all over the world. They ran with the SIGINT (signals intelligence) in Cuba, and throughout the former Soviet bloc countries, especially in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The GRU was well known in the Soviet government for its fierce independence from the rival "internal intelligence organizations", such as NKVD and KGB. At the time of the GRU's creation, Lenin infuriated the Cheka (predecessor of the KGB) by ordering it not to interfere with the GRU's operations. Nonetheless, the Cheka infiltrated the GRU in 1919. This planted the seed for a fierce rivalry between the two agencies, which were both engaged in espionage. The rivalry was even more intense than that between the FBI and CIA.
The existence of the GRU was not publicized during the Soviet era. Documents about it became available in the West in the late 1920s, and it was mentioned in the 1931 memoirs of the first OGPU defector, Georges Agabekov. Walter Krivitsky, the most senior Red Army intelligence officer ever to defect, described it in detail in his 1939 autobiography ("I was Stalin's agent").
It became widely known in Russia, and the West during perestroika. "Viktor Suvorov" (Vladimir Rezun), a GRU agent who defected to Great Britain in 1978, wrote about his experiences in the Soviet military and intelligence services. According to Suvorov, even the General Secretary of the CPSU could not enter GRU headquarters without going through a security screening.
The GRU is still a very important part of the Russian Federation's intelligence services, especially since it was never split up like the KGB. The KGB was dissolved after aiding a failed coup in 1991 against the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. It has since been divided into the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The GRU was officially dissolved on 7 May 1992. It continues as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces.
Balaclava
A balaclava (or ski mask) is a type of clothing worn over the head. It has holes for eyes, the mouth and the nose. They are normally worn to protect from cold weather, and is often worn by skiers.
The name "balaclava" comes from the town of Balaklava, near Sevastopol in Crimea, Ukraine.
John Cale Comes Alive
John Cale Comes Alive is the second live album by multi-instrumentalist John Cale. It was recorded in January 1984 and released in September of the same year on ZE Records label. Cale is also the producer of this album.
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) is the second studio album by multi-instrumentalist Brian Eno. It was released in November 1974 on Island Records label. It was produced by Eno.
Wrong Way Up
Wrong Way Up is a studio album by multi-instrumentalists Brian Eno and John Cale. It was recorded between April and July 1990. It was released in October 1990.
Protective gear in sports
Protective equipment helps sport people not get hurt. They use it in skiing, inline skating, skateboarding, snowboarding, and other sports. Types of protective equipment for these sports include wrist guards. Inline skating protective equipment includes a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards. Skiing protective equipment includes helmets, and release bindings. Snowboarding protective equipment includes wrist guards.
Protective equipment for Australian rules football includes headgear.
Mobility aid
Mobility aids (or orthopedic aids) are devices that are designed to help people walk or move better. They can make people hurt less and feel less pain. An example is a wheelchair.
There are two types of orthopedic aids. One type means people can move part of the body less. The other type means people put less weight on their feet. Splints, knee braces, shoe adjustments, position aids and abduction casts are orthopedic aids.
Children with a disability are two times more likely than children who do not have a disability to use an orthopedic aid.
In Croatia, health insurance pays for orthopedic aids for people less than 18 years old, or people who got hurt while working.
Ski lift
Ski lifts take people up and down a mountain. There are different kinds of ski lifts. Some are like chairs. Some are like tram cars.
Ski instructor
Ski instructors are people who teach other people how to ski. Ski instructors need a license to teach skiing.
Kellogg–Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact (also called the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War or the World Peace Act) was an agreement signed on August 27, 1928, by several countries. Some of these countries were the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, and Germany. It was named after its authors, Frank B. Kellogg and Aristide Briand.
The pact said that war was wrong and should be banned, but said nothing about what to do with a country that went to war anyway. The pact was the result of a determined American effort to avoid involvement in the European alliance system. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was registered with the League of Nations on Tuesday 4 September , 1928.
Guide skier
A guide skier is a person who helps skiers who cannot see by telling them where to go. They communicate by using a radio or talking to them. The guide skier can see.
Skiers can use more than one guide during a race type. The guide can only win a medal if they raced with the same skier for the whole race type. Like the skier, the guide has to have an IPCAS Licence in order to compete in races. Guide skiers need to follow to anti-doping rules.
Skiers follow the guide skier in the biathlon.
Ski goggles
Ski goggles are goggles that help protect a skiers' eyes from the sun.
Ski goggle lenses are made from soft plastic. Ski goggles sometimes fog and it is not easy to see through the lens.
People who wear glasses can get ski goggles that can be worn over their glasses.
Ski glasses are stored in soft bags.
Ski suit
A ski suit is a piece of clothing. It has one piece. It does not have one shirt and one pair of pants. The ski suit protects the skier when they are racing.
Whistler Creekside
Whistler Creekside is one of four neighborhoods in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.
The 2010 Winter Paralympics para-alpine skiing races were at Whistler Creekside. The types of races at Whistler included downhill, Super-Combined, Super-G, slalom and giant slalom.
2002 Winter Paralympics
The 2002 Winter Paralympics was the eighth Winter Paralympics. They were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from 7 to 16 March 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated in the Games. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the American continent.
These were the first Paralympic Winter Games for Andorra, Chile, the People’s Republic of China, Croatia, Greece and Hungary.