Russian special operations forces take an adaptive approach
The command of the special operations forces remains one of the most closed structures in the RF Armed Forces. It is known that only in the last six months in Syria, two MTR fighters were killed: Fedor Zhuravlev and Alexander Prokhorenko, who became the Hero of Russia posthumously.
Soldiers of the special operations forces performed critical tasks. They guided and corrected air strikes, including cruise missiles, against the positions of the "Islamic State" banned in Russia, rescued the flight recorders of the Russian front-line bomber Su-24M shot down by the Turkish Air Force. This is just a small part of the list.
Fees to Solnechnogorsk
The history of special operations forces began in 1999, when a Specialist Training Center was created in the Moscow region of Solnechnogorsk, and in fact a special military unit, subordinate directly to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. Later the center was named "Senezh", and the fighters were called "sunflowers". One of the founding fathers was the then Chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Anatoly Kvashnin.
Sometimes this center is called a training center, but according to several interlocutors of the "Military-Industrial Courier", "Senezh" never wore such a "attachment", and the phrase "training of specialists" served rather as a cover, and also emphasized the special status of the unit.
Initially, four lines of special operations were formed. The airborne fighters practiced difficult jumps, both long and with the opening of the parachute immediately after separation from the side. Possession of such methods allows the special forces to fly tens of kilometers unnoticed by the enemy. Experts jumped both day and night using night vision devices, in bad weather, with strong winds and fog.
Servicemen of the mountain direction became combat climbers, learned how to storm mountain peaks, capture and hold passes and glaciers. The training of specialists took place, in particular, on the basis of the Terskol training center located in the Elbrus region. The soldiers made difficult ascents, even climbed to the top of Elbrus.
The special forces of the assault direction learned not only to take houses and other buildings. The tasks were set much broader - the capture of enemy targets in various conditions, on any terrain.
The fighters of the maritime direction mastered all kinds of water areas, practiced actions in diving equipment using special tugs and light boats. Learned to capture ships and coastal structures.
Already from the experience of hostilities in Chechnya, a fifth area has appeared in the center - the protection of high-ranking military personnel. The Defense Minister is protected by the FSO staff. But in the conditions of hostilities, such officials as the chief of the General Staff, the commander of the troops of the district, were previously accompanied, at best, by scouts or special forces. The training of such "guards", to put it mildly, left much to be desired. Therefore, the question of creating a specialized unit dealing with the protection of high-ranking representatives of the Ministry of Defense was acute before the emergence of the fifth direction.
At the same time, according to the interlocutors of the "Military-Industrial Courier", in the center there has never been a rigid attachment of fighters to a specific direction. All "sunflowers" learned to jump with a parachute, go to the mountains, dive, storm houses. But depending on the tasks, individual elements of training for the fighters were more in-depth.
Moreover, the command tried to ensure that the specialists worked in several directions during their service. Exchange of experience, knowledge, skills and abilities between the departments was carried out. For example, a fighter who came from the airborne direction to the sea not only learned the peculiarities of working on the water, but also shared with his comrades the skills of long parachute jumps.
From the moment of their formation, the directions were staffed exclusively with officers and warrant officers. The conscripts served only in business units or as drivers.
Future "sunflowers" were selected not only in units and subunits of the Airborne Forces and Special Forces, but also among tankmen, artillerymen, infantrymen, even officers of the Air Defense Forces and RHBZ. Several times a year, “buyers” from the GRU visited military units, studied the personal files of military personnel and selected suitable candidates.
But that was just the beginning. Officers and warrant officers arrived in Solnechnogorsk, where so-called training camps were held with them, and in fact, entrance tests, where the physical training of future MTR fighters, and personal qualities, and most importantly, the ability to work in a team were tested.
Sources of the "Military-Industrial Courier" emphasize: the main principle of the center is not to prepare an individual fighter with excellent skills and abilities, but to create a team that acts as a single organism. This principle, which has been strictly observed throughout all the years of Senezh's existence, has always led the sunflowers to victories.
Your way and cars for it
If we compare the organizational and staff structure of the Center for Training Specialists with the American Delta and DEVGRU, the British 22nd SAS Regiment and the German KSK, which perform similar tasks, it is striking that the Western "squadrons" (analogous to directions in our center) do not have an orientation for specific task - they are, so to speak, universal. In particular, in the 22nd regiment, each of the four squadrons is divided into four detachments: airborne, sea, mountain and automobile.
But as the Russian experience of the combat use of special forces has shown, a universal system in most cases is not optimal. For example, if a detachment of special operations forces is fighting in the mountains, then it is better to have more "climbers" and attack aircraft in its composition, but fewer paratroopers and sailors. Therefore, our specialists, unlike Western ones, operate in consolidated detachments, where, depending on the task, groups from different directions are transferred. According to the interlocutors of "MIC", this is not a universal, but an adaptive approach.
NATO countries' special operations forces consider it necessary to create separate units trained to penetrate enemy lines, raid and ambush specialized vehicles such as the Land Rover Pink Panther in the 22nd SAS regiment, Pinzgauers in the American Delta.
The experience of the Russian MTR has shown that armored vehicles of the domestic "Tiger" type in most cases are not suitable for the tasks facing the special operations forces. Therefore, the choice fell on high-pass buggies, the "Senezh" highly appreciated the Israeli off-road vehicles "Zibar".
From the very beginning, the leadership of the Russian center paid close attention not only to training snipers, but to training specialists capable of high-precision shooting and at the same time solving a wide range of tasks. Initially, Finnish high-precision complexes TRG-42 from Sako were purchased for these needs, later British AWPs appeared, developed by the legendary shooter Malcolm Cooper. Large-caliber sniper rifles of various companies, in particular the South African Truvel, were studied separately.
In Chechnya and beyond the cordon
Immediately after the creation of the Center for the Training of Specialists, its fighters were at the forefront. In 1999, Wahhabite militants invaded Dagestan, but were defeated, and a few months later Russian troops launched a counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya.
It is noteworthy that the name "sunflowers" was assigned to the soldiers of the center after their first trip to the Caucasus. On that trip, the servicemen put on panama hats, which were not then in other units and special forces. According to one of the versions, the headgear was from the newly appeared SPN-2 summer field set. According to the other, the Panama hats, which the fighters saw in one of the American militants, were bought in a store selling Western uniforms and equipment. Be that as it may, for the unusual appearance, as well as since the center is located not far from the Podsolnechnaya suburban train station, its soldiers received the nickname "sunflowers". Later, the drawing of a sun flower against the background of crossed swords and arrows fell on the chevron of the center.
Despite the fact that his activities in Chechnya are still classified as "Top Secret", according to available information, the "sunflowers" liquidated and captured high-ranking militants, found and destroyed the bases and hideouts of bandits, and solved other important tasks. As the interlocutors of the "VPK" recall, they demanded from the soldiers of the center not a 100 percent guarantee that the task would be completed, but all 300. They simply had no right to make a mistake.
One event in the center does not like to remember. In the fall of 1999, senior lieutenants Alexei Galkin and Vladimir Pakhomov were captured by Chechen militants. How experienced fighters found themselves in such a difficult situation is still unclear. But later both officers, despite severe injuries, escaped from captivity and went to their own. Alexey Galkin became the Hero of Russia.
According to some reports, the soldiers of the Specialist Training Center not only fought in Chechnya, but also solved problems abroad. In particular, they took part in operations against pirates in the Horn of Africa.
The experience of hostilities in Chechnya and foreign operations have shown that the subordination of the center to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate is not the most optimal solution. The head of military intelligence, for example, cannot give an order to the commander-in-chief of the Air Force to assign a plane or helicopters to the "sunflowers"; a rather lengthy procedure for preparing a request, and then agreeing it, is required. Meanwhile, in some cases, the time for an operation is measured in hours and minutes.
Two centers in a new look
The activities of Anatoly Serdyukov as the Minister of Defense of Russia are still subject to serious criticism, but it was under him that the command of the special operations forces was created. Just in the transition to a new look, the "sunflowers", having received the official name of the special operations center of the Ministry of Defense "Senezh", began to report directly to the Chief of the General Staff.
Serdyukov visited the base in Solnechnogorsk near Moscow more than once. Money was allocated for the purchase of weapons and equipment, several research projects were opened. A helicopter squadron from the Center for Combat Use of Army Aviation in Torzhok was transferred to the operational subordination of Senezh. And in Tver, military transport Il-76s were on round-the-clock duty, ready, if necessary, to deliver MTR fighters to designated points at any time.
It is believed that during the transition to a new look, Senezh, like the special-purpose brigades, was reduced, and many of its servicemen were either dismissed or removed from the staff. But this is not the case. According to the "Military-Industrial Courier", the command of the center, taking advantage of this opportunity, carried out certification of their fighters, selecting the best.
In the late 2000s, a second Special Purpose Center appeared in the Russian Ministry of Defense, subordinate to the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, with a deployment in Kubinka near Moscow. The new CSN, nicknamed Zazaborye, owes its appearance to Lieutenant General Alexander Miroshnichenko, who came under Anatoly Serdyukov to the post of Deputy Defense Minister, who previously headed Directorate A of the FSB Special Purpose Center, in other words, the Alpha detachment.
Between Miroshnichenko and the leadership of "Senezh" immediately developed, to put it mildly, tense relations. The former commander of Alpha believed that it was necessary to create a command of the special operations forces of the Ministry of Defense, relying only on the experience of his former administration. The command of the "sunflowers" reasonably stated that they had their own, no less serious groundwork and a training school, and the tasks of "Alpha" and the special operations forces of the military department were different.
In this situation, Serdyukov made a compromise decision - to create a second Special Purpose Center, the formation of which he entrusted to Alexander Miroshnichenko, who attracted former subordinates from the FSB Central Service Center to this work.
Alfa employees, creating Zazaborie, were primarily guided by their own experience. Individual training of fighters was at the forefront, great attention was paid to physical training - at the level of high-performance sports. And collective work, the key principle of Senezh, was not a priority for the creators of the new center.
The interlocutor of the "VPK" explains: "Alfa's everything is different. They were brought in a car to the site of the operation, they ran 50 meters and became heroes. Nobody wants to sniff footcloths and crawl through the mountains for weeks looking for militants."
In 2013, this TSSN of the Ministry of Defense was also subordinated to the command of the special operations forces. The post of KSSO commander was taken by Major General Aleksey Dyumin, who, according to knowledgeable people, in many respects became a compromise figure against the background of the confrontation between the Senezh leadership and Alexander Miroshnichenko, who actively continued to implement the experience of the FSB Central Security Service.
It is noteworthy that Zazaborye has kept close relations with Alpha. Its former employees, as noted by many with whom the "Military-Industrial Courier" met, instilled in the fighters of the newly created center a desire to be the best in everything at any cost.
Let's note the main thing - the fighters of both centers continued the traditions laid down by the founding fathers, performing the most difficult tasks: they defended the Olympics in Sochi, carried out a brilliant operation in Crimea, and now they are working in Syria.
