Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Russia upgrades its Special Forces


The former Soviet Union always placed emphasis on special forces, usually in the form of its so-called 'Spetsnaz' units, but also in a few more specialized outfits like the anti-terrorist Alpha Group.  This continued in Russia after the breakup of the Union, and they've been particularly active in the Ukrainian conflict and in Syria.  Now, it seems, they're being taken to the next level.  Austin Bay writes:

Russia has acknowledged that its newest special operations unit, the KSO (Special Operations Command) has been operating in Syria. KSO was being discussed in Russia since 2013 but little was revealed officially. KSO appeared to be an elite Russian special operations unit more like the British SAS or the American Delta Force than the less selective special operations personnel Russia had favored in the past. It also became known that KSO has fewer than a thousand personnel, most of them operators (commandos) and all are volunteer professional soldiers who not only operate like their Western counterparts but have been seen using some of the same equipment. This includes special rifle sights, military rifles and high-end protective gear. Most of this stuff is available commercially, although often only to government agencies (to keep it away from criminals).

Like their Western counterparts Russian special operations troops are trained to do a variety of missions. These include reconnaissance (often deep into enemy territory), provide security for very valuable people or equipment and carry out “direct action” (raids).Russian spetsnaz (the less selective predecessor of KSO) did this in Afghanistan in the 1980s and in the Caucasus since the late 1990s but not in Syria. That’s because Russia wants to avoid casualties in Syria as these are very unpopular in Russia. Spectacular victories, on the other hand, are still popular and Russia had figured out how the West had used more highly skilled operators (like SAS and Delta) as a backbone or spearhead for other special operators in special situations, like Afghanistan in 2001 and for the effort to kill bin Laden and many other senior Islamic terrorist leaders and, more importantly, capture useful secrets most of these men had with them. It turned out that KSO was a key element in making the quick takeover of Crimea work. KSO is still a threat to Ukraine but it was apparently intel and advice from KSO operatives that prevented Russia from getting into even more trouble in eastern Ukraine (Donbas).

. . .

There are still differences between Western and Russian special operations forces. Unlike the U.S., where the commandos have their own military command (SOCOM or Special Operations Command) in Russia the spetsnaz work more closely with the various intelligence agencies. GRU apparently had a 2014 plan for taking over Crimea in a way that would cause the least amount of diplomatic and military damage and the spetsnaz units GRU controlled were the key operators able to make it happen. KSO also got involved but GRU took the lead. KSO was the new player and performed well. A year later KSO showed up in Syria where KSO was the lead special operations unit there.

There's more at the link.  Recommended reading for anyone interested in the application of 'unconventional' military tactics and units to complex geopolitical circumstances.

This development is interesting from two perspectives.  One is the legendary Russian ruthlessness in dealing with its enemies.  I'm sure many people remember the kidnapping of Russian diplomats in Lebanon in the 1980's.  It led to Alpha Group becoming involved in a famous incident.

Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Benny Morris uncovered the most compelling reason why the three Soviets were released, emaciated and tired, but otherwise unharmed.

According to Morris, the KBG determined the kidnapping to be the work of the Shiite Muslim group known as Hezbollah, or Party of God. This was the same radical pro-Iranian faction that figured so belligerently in the mass hostage-taking from the TWA airliner at Beirut Airport last June.

Unlike the approach the United States used to resolve the TWA crisis, however, the Soviets did not bother negotiating with Hezbollah through Nabih Berri, Lebanon's justice minister and leader of the Shiite Amal militia.

Instead, the KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate kinsman with a bullet in the brain.

In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were not freed immediately.

The message was a lot more extreme than Ronald Reagan's vague allusions to using "Rambo next time," but the swift release of the three remaining hostages indicated that the Hezbollah big shot couldn't handle having terror shoved back in his face.

Post reporter Morris quoted unidentified observers in Jerusalem as noting:

"This is the way the Soviets operate. They do things - they don't talk.

"And this is the language the Hezbollah understand."

Again, more at the link.  I daresay the new Russian SF unit will not be any less ruthless in achieving its objectives.

The second interesting aspect is how US special forces have often worked in countries where this country is (officially, at least) not engaged in hostilities.  They've trained local armed forces and 'spread the gospel' of special forces activities as a counter to terrorist activities.  It's been claimed that SOCOM deployed various US special operations troops to 135 countries in 2015 alone.  If Russian special forces begin similar activities, will their SF find themselves in the same countries as our SF, and what will be the result?

Food for thought.

Peter

6 comments:

Mike said...

Lesson learned: Do not upset the Bear.

Tim Newman said...

"KSO is still a threat to Ukraine but it was apparently intel and advice from KSO operatives that prevented Russia from getting into even more trouble in eastern Ukraine (Donbas)."

Presumably they told Putin that unlike in Crimea, the supposedly pro-Russian population of east Ukraine didn't want to become Russian and were prepared to fight back.

Mark Matis said...

"Stealth" wind turbines:
Low-level flight training by military aircraft is intended to train the crews to fly combat missions at those altitudes to enable them to evade the enemy's air defenses. The "stealth" wind turbine farms inn friendly countries should be clearly marked on the military's AirNav charts. If the aircrews are not able to safely avoid those obstacles in peacetime, then all an enemy would need to do is install similar unmarked towers along the approaches to the target areas in their country. Wouldn't even need to be a working turbine to be effective. Not to mention that the training routes chosen for military training would be planned to avoid such obstacles in the first place...

Russian Special Forces:
Russia today is NOT the Soviet Union. Remember the "Reset" button? Remember "I'll have more flexibility after the election?" The Obama Administration thought that Putin was a Communist One World Government type who would LOVE to work towards their New World Order. Instead, President Putin is a nationalist who believes in Russia as an independent sovereign nation with defensible borders, and who also believes that Western culture is worth preserving. The Democrats and the Rove Republicans cannot tolerate any such thing. There is no reason, on the other hand, that Trump as a President who believes in the US as an independent sovereign nation and who also thinks Western culture is worth preserving should not be able to work with President Putin in a manner that leads BOTH nations towards that ideal. The big challenge will be in keeping the Democrats, the Rove Republicans, and the US "Intelligence" community from sabotaging such a situation, with plenty of help from Soros and the Koch brothers and the rest of the globalist swill. Would it be so bad to have US Special Forces and Russia Special Forces working side-by-side to wipe Islam from the face of the earth?

"“Find the enemy that wants to end this experiment (in American democracy) and kill every one of them until they’re so sick of the killing that they leave us and our freedoms intact.”"

That enemy today is NOT Russia. It is instead Islam and the globalist swill around the world, including much of the government at ALL levels within this nation.

Anonymous said...

As I understand it - don't have a citable source - the Russians also called in a Shiite Imam and discussed how one of their bases in southern Russia was going to do some missile drills. And then commented about the position of one of the Shiite holy sites and how it was in relatively-close proximity to that base. After all, accidents can happen. A missile might misfire and go off-course.

Anonymous said...

I see an opportunity here. First, Trump will have to do some repair work on U.S. - Russia relations, thanks to Obama. OK, a lot of repair work.

But If he can get the intelligence agencies behind him, and enough support in Congress, there may be an opportunity for a limited partnership on dealing with mutual enemies. Russia, after all, had Beslan, we had 9/11. We have technology they don't, they have guys whom they allow to use their full skill set in broad daylight. I doubt an Alpha/Seal joint mission would work, nor would either side want to do it that way, but sharing some probably-not-secret info and technique could be doable.

Support from those intelligence agencies (and especially State)? As Glenn Reynolds has pointed out, they're full of Washington Lifers. It's time to cull the herd and get them down to staffers who understand How The World Works.

fast richard said...

An encounter between U.S. and Russian Special Forces, in a foreign country, far away from any direct supervision? I can imagine some pretty epic battles or some pretty epic parties, possibly both on the same day.