White Tights

Natalya Sakharova

### Country

Predominantly Russia, also Estonia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and other former Soviet Bloc nations

### Type

Sniper team, death squad, terrorist organization

### Active

1980s-Present

In reality, the **White Tights** (also **"White Pantyhose"** or **White Stockings**)are an urban legend regarding surrounding the alleged participation of female sniper mercenaries in combat against Russian forces in various armed conflicts from late 1980s. These mercs were described as "blond Amazon-like nationalistic biathletes turned anti-Russian mercenaries", hailing predominantly from the Baltic States. As the urban legend grew, the ethnicities of the snipers became more diverse, including Ukrainian, and 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.

In the Delta Verse, the White Tights refer to actual female sniper mercenaries that terrorized Russian forces during the late 1980s and into the 2010s. They were described as one of the most elite death squads, able to take down entire platoons of enemy soldiers virtually overnight. Because they were so secretive, many doubted that the women even existed, which also helped to feed into the urban legends concerning the organization.

Their ability to hide in plain sight was what made these mercenaries so terrifying; similar to the Babylon Coalition, these women could be anyone and nobody would know until it was too late.

## History

### Achieving notoriety

The White Tights made their biggest entrance into the international community when they claimed responsibility for a series of homicides and acts of vandalism across Europe and the United States. This prompted the United States, the UK, France, Russia, Japan, China, and various other world governments to label the White Tights as a terrorist organization. In recent years, however, that status has become the subject of continuous debate; although a majority of the world believes that the White Tights are a terrorist group, there is a small minority of people across the world who instead believe that the White Tights are an extreme activist movement.

## Weapons and equipment

The White Tights, being a mercenary sniper army, commonly uses sniper rifles to kill their targets. A typical White Tights loadout would consist of a sniper rifle, a handgun, and an belt of explosives, containing either hand grenades, incendiary grenades, flashbangs, or a combination of all three. Because the White Tights are supposed to be covert, the women are trained to commit suicide rather to risk being captured. To this end, they sometimes cyanide pills disguised as fake teeth. However, most of the time, when cornered they would either shoot themselves in the head with their sidearms or blow themselves up like suicide bombers.

### Rifles

* Lee–Enfield
* Dragunov SVD
* H&K PSG1
* Remington 700
* M40A5
* Steyr Scout
* Steyr Scout Elite
* M1903 Springfield
* Springfield M1903A4
* Karabiner 98k
* Accuracy International AW50
* CheyTac Intervention
* Desert Tech SRS
* Dragunov SVU
* FN Ballista
* FR F2 sniper rifle
* GOL Sniper Magnum
* Heckler & Koch HK417
* Kalekalıp KNT-308
* Howa M1500
* M24 Sniper Weapon System
* M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System
* SKS
* Modular Sniper Rifle
* Robar RC-50
* Savage 10FP
* VSK-94
* VSS Vintorez

### Handguns

* MP-443 Grach
* Stechkin APB
* Beretta M9A1

### Melee weapons

* Karambit
* Katana
* Cleaver
* Machete

### Thrown weapons

* Throwing knives
* Ninja stars

## Notable members

* Vladimira Makarova
* Sashenka Kalinina
* Natalya Sakharova
* Olga Malenkova