page_title: VSS Vintorez
section_title: Users and service history
hierarchical_section_title: VSS Vintorez / Users and service history
caption_attribution_description: English: Parade of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
context_page_description: The VSS, also called the Vintorez, is a suppressed designated marksman rifle that uses a heavy subsonic 9×39mm SP5 cartridge and armor-piercing SP6 cartridge. It was developed in the late 1980s by TsNIITochMash and manufactured by the Tula Arsenal. It is issued primarily to Spetsnaz units for undercover or clandestine operations, a role made evident by its ability to be stripped down for transport in a specially fitted briefcase.
context_section_description:  Armenia: a small quantity of weapons were received from Russia among other arms before 2014.
   Belarus: Used by various special forces.
   Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
   India: Used by MARCOS
   Syria: Used by Syrian army
   Georgia: used by army and police special forces.
   Kazakhstan
   Jordan: Special forces only.
   Russia: Special forces, Federal Security Service (FSB) and OMON.
   Soviet Union
   Ukraine: Used by SBU Alpha Group.
caption: VSS carried by Russian Airborne Troops during the 2014 Moscow Victory Day Parade
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