page_title: Spetsnaz
section_title: KGB of the USSR and FSB of the Russian Federation special forces
hierarchical_section_title: Spetsnaz / KGB of the USSR and FSB of the Russian Federation special forces
caption_attribution_description: English: President Dmitry Medvedev visiting the FSB Special Forces Centre in Makhachkala, Dagestan on 9 June 2009 Русский: Дмитрий Медведев во время посещения Центра специального назначения ФСБ. Махачкала, Дагестан]]
context_page_description: Spetsnaz is an umbrella term for special forces in Russian language and is used in numerous post-Soviet states.
  Historically, the term referred to special operations units controlled by the main military intelligence service GRU. It also describes task forces of other ministries in post-Soviet countries. Russian special forces wear different berets depending on the branch of the armed forces they belong to. These include:
  Ground Forces and Airborne Forces – Blue beret
  Navy and Marines – Black beret
  National Guard – Maroon beret
  As Spetsnaz is a Russian term, it is typically associated with the special units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces units by the term as well, since these nations also inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies. The 5th Spetsnaz Brigade of Belarus is such an example of non-Russian Spetsnaz forces.
context_section_description: The Centre of Special Operations of the FSB (CSN FSB, центр специального назначения ФСБ) is officially tasked with combating terrorism and protecting the constitutional order of the Russian Federation. The CSN FSB consists of estimated 4,000 operators in three operative divisions:
  Directorate "A" (Spetsgruppa Alpha)
  Directorate "V" (Spetsgruppa Vympel)
  Directorate "S" (Spetsgruppa Smerch) (Moscow city and Moscow Oblast)
  Directorate "K" (Caucasus - formerly Special Purpose unit for the city of Yessentuki)
  2nd SN Service of the Special Purpose Center of FSB (Crimea)
  Service of Use of Special  Weapons
  CSN FSB headquarters is a large complex of buildings and training areas, with dozens of hectares of land and scores of training facilities. The average training period for a CSN officer is about five years.
  Spetsgruppa 'A' (Alpha Group) is a counter-terrorist unit created in 1974. It is a professional unit, consisting of about 720 personnel, of which about 250–300 are trained for assault operations and the rest are support personnel. These are dispersed in five operational detachments, including one permanent detachment in the Chechen Republic. Other units are stationed in Moscow, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg and Khabarovsk. All Alpha operators undergo airborne, mountain and counter-sabotage dive training. Alpha has operated in other countries, most notably Operation Storm-333 (when Alpha and Zenith detachments supported the 154th Independent Spetsnaz Detachment—known as the "Muslim Battalion"—of the GRU on a mission to overthrow and kill Afghan president Hafizullah Amin).
  Spetsgruppa "V", abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V), also known as "Vega" in period 1993–1995, was formed in 1981, merging two elite Cold War-era KGB special units—Cascade (Kaskad) and Zenith (Zenit)—which were similar to the CIA's Special Activities Division (responsible for clandestine / covert operations involving sabotage and assassination in other countries) and re-designated for counter-terrorist and counter-sabotage operations. It is tasked with the protection of strategic installations, such as factories and transportation centers. With its Alpha counterparts, it is heavily used in the North Caucasus. Vympel has four operative units in Moscow, with branch offices in nearly every city containing a nuclear power plant.
  Spetsgruppa "S", abbreviation of the Directorate C (Russian Cyrillic for S), also known as Smerch, but also known as the Service of Special Operations (ССО), is a relatively new unit formed in July 1999. Officers from Smerch are frequently involved with the capture and transfer of various bandit and criminal leaders who help aid disruption in the North Caucasus and throughout Russia. Operations include both direct action against bandit holdouts in Southern Russia as well as high-profile arrests in more densely populated cities and guarding government officials. Because of its initials, this group is casually referred to as "Smerch". With the Centre of Special Operations and its elite units, many FSB special forces units operate at the regional level. These detachments are usually known as ROSN or ROSO (Regional Department of Special Designation), such as Saint Petersburg's Grad (Hail) or Murmansk's Kasatka (Orca).
caption: Then-Russian President Medvedev visiting Dagestan FSB special forces base in Makhachkala, 2009
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