White Tights " White Tights " ( also " White Pantyhose " or White Stockings ; the " beliye kolgotki " , ; ; ) is a Russian urban myth surrounding the alleged participation of female sniper mercenaries in combat against Russia n forces in various armed conflicts from late 1980s . The myth describes these women as blond Amazon - like nationalistic biathlete s turned anti - Russian mercenaries . They come predominantly from the Baltic states , but subsequent variations of the myth have diversified the ethnic composition of the snipers , including Ukrainian , Russian women in their midst . The name " White Tights " originates from the white - coloured winter sports attire these snipers were wearing and was first coined during the Nagorno - Karabakh War . Origins . The phenomenon was first reported during the late 1980s , with female Baltic irregulars being rumoured fighting with the resistance in the Soviet war in Afghanistan . It appeared first in the English - language media only in conjunction with the post - Soviet First and Second Chechen War s . Attempts have been made to link the alleged presence of the " White Tights " in Chechnya , not only with the special forces and intelligence services of the Baltic states , but also to the positive relations Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev enjoyed with both the government of independent Estonia and Lithuanian politician Vytautas Landsbergis . Sergey Yastrzhembsky , the chief spokesman of the Kremlin during the early phase of the Second Chechen War , argued that female Baltic snipers actually existed based on evidence from GRU military intelligence , who " don ' t make mistakes " . The government of Estonia has asked for the evidence behind the claims and sent diplomatic notes twice to Russia without receiving an official answer . Later conflicts . In November 2008 , Aleksandr Bastrykin , head of the Russian Federation Prosecutor - General ' s investigative committee , has suggested that mercenaries from the Baltic states were among those known to have participated on the Georgian side during the 2008 South Ossetia war , including a female sniper from Latvia . Earlier during the conflict , Russia Today TV had reported the South Ossetian authorities as saying that " there was a group of women snipers operating in the city [ i . e . , Tskhinvali ] " , and that " Ukrainians and citizens of the Baltic countries have been among the prisoners they have detained . " These reports have resurrected the rumours of " White Tights " operating in the Caucasus . A spokesman for the Latvian Ministry of Defence , Airis Rikveilis , commented Bastrykin ' s statements as follows : " We had thought that the ghost of the ' White Tights ' had died in the Russian press , but now we see that it still roams Russia . " In popular culture . White Tights have also appeared in the Russian popular media , such as in Aleksandr Nevzorov ' s 1997 film " Purgatory " ( ) . In the film , two Lithuanian " biathletes " are portrayed as sadistic mercenary snipers fighting for the Chechen rebels . A much more sympathetic character of a Lithuanian female sniper appeared in Andrei Konchalovsky ' s 2002 film " House of Fools " , portrayed by Cecilie Thomsen .