Directorate "V" of the FSB Special Purpose Center, often referred to as Spetsgruppa "V" Vympel (
pennant in
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, originated from German , and having the same meaning), but also known as KGB Directorate "V", Vega Group, is an elite Russian
special forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
unit, under the command of the
FSB.
Vympel is the sister unit of
Spetsgruppa "A" (Alpha Group), an FSB unit.
Origins
KUOS
As most of the training in the KGB academy concentrated on plainclothes operational work focused on espionage and counter-espionage, in 1955 the
First Chief Directorate
The First Main Directorate () of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence activities by providing for the training and management of cove ...
of the service established the Development Courses for Officer Personnel ( (), Latinized abbreviation KUOS) – a training cadre with the purpose of training general duty KGB officers in irregular warfare and combat tactics for clandestine operations overseas or as a stay-behind cadre and backbone for the formation of partisan units in case of a foreign invasion. In 1966 these courses were taken out of the structure of the First Chief Directorate and co-located as an independent training center together with the training center of the
Soviet Border Troops
The Soviet Border Troops (russian: Пограничные войска СССР, Pogranichnyye voyska SSSR) were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the ''Cheka''/State Political Di ...
(the KGB's own military force) in
Golitsyno, Moscow Oblast
Golitsyno (russian: Голи́цыно) is a town in Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located west of Moscow. Population:
History
It was founded as a settlement in 1872 and was granted town status in 2004.
Administrative and mun ...
. The KUOS graduates had their
baptism by fire
The phrase baptism by fire or baptism of fire is a Christian theological concept originating from the words of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:11.
It also has related meanings in military history and popular culture.
Christianity
The term ''bapti ...
during the
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
in 1968. A year later the KUOS was absorbed into the KGB Academy (Higher Red Banner School of KGB of the USSR, ) as part of the students' curriculum – initially a three-month course. In 1970 the KUOS relocated again to
Balashikha
Balashikha ( rus, Балашиха, p=bəlɐˈʂɨxə) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pekhorka River east of the Moscow Ring Road. Population:
Etymology
In Finno-Ugric languages, ''Bala-shika'' means ''land of celebrations, ...
, the position of the director was promoted from a KGB
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
/Captain 2nd Rank to a KGB
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
/
Captain 1st Rank
Captain 1st rank (russian: Капитан 1-го ранга, Kapitan 1-go ranga, lit=Captain of the 1st rank) is a rank used by the Russian Navy and a number of former communist states. The rank is the most senior rank in the staff officers' ca ...
and the duration of the training increased to seven months.
Zenyth
The main purpose of the KUOS center was the regular and irregular combat training of KGB Academy cadets as part of the establishment's curriculum. The secondary purpose was in case of a rising tension in a specific region to generate a tailored task group out of the cadets currently in an advanced stage of their training. Such example is the
Operation Storm-333
Operation Storm-333 (russian: Шторм-333, ), also known as the Tajbeg Palace Assault, was executed by the Soviet Union in Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. It saw Spetsnaz storm the heavily fortified Tajbeg ...
(), which gained a legendary status in Russia. From the cadre of KUOS the Special Operations Task Group
Zenyth was formed to take part in the liquidation of the Afghan leader
Hafizullah Amin
Hafizullah Amin (Pashto/ prs, حفيظ الله امين; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist revolutionary, politician and teacher. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghanist ...
alongside the
Grom
Grom may refer to:
Military
* JW GROM, a Polish special forces unit
* ORP ''Grom'', several ships of the Polish Navy
* Grom (missile), a Polish anti-aircraft missile
* A Yugoslav/Serbian version of the Kh-23 (AS-9 'Kyle') air-to-surface missi ...
Team (Russian for "thunder") of the KGB's
Alpha Group
Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group (a popular English name), or Alfa, whose official name is Directorate "A" of the FSB Special Purpose Center (TsSN FSB) (Russian: Спецназ ФСБ "Альфа"), is an elite stand-alone sub-unit o ...
. The Zenyth Task Group was headed personally by the director of KUOS Colonel Grigoriy Boyarinov (who was in charge of the KUOS since it became an independent structure in 1969). Since Hafizullah Amin came to power by ordering the assassination of his predecessor
Nur Muhammad Taraki
Nur Muhammad Taraki (; 14 July 1917 – 9 October 1979) was an Afghan revolutionary communist politician, journalist and writer. He was a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) who served as its General Secret ...
and fearing he would be ousted from power the same way he asked the Soviet government to provide his protective detail. The combined KGB Grom and Zenyth contingent was deployed in that role, wearing Afghan army uniforms without identification. Later, when the Soviet leadership re-evaluated the situation and ordered a military intervention the dual characteristics of those KGB officers as intelligence operatives with advanced combat training and their location within the Presidential Palace made them ideal to both gather intel on the actions of the Afghan leadership and spearhead the assault on the residence, opening the way for the "Muslim Battalion" (154th Special Operations Independent Force – ) of the GRU Spetsnaz. Col. Boyarinov was killed in the fighting along with 5 operatives of Grom and Zenyth. Storm-333 is a rare example of KGB Spetsnaz and
GRU Spetsnaz operating in concert.
Kaskad and Omega
After the full-sized invasion of Soviet forces within the Afghan People's Republic in July 1980 the KGB ordered the KUOS to form another special operations task force - Kaskad (, Russian for "cascade"). From July 1980 until April 1983 the Kaskad made four tours to Afghanistan in different composition and with different duration, so the four task forces are known simply as Kaskad-1 (6 months), Kaskad-2 (6 months), Kaskad-3 (9 months) and Kaskad-4 (12 months). Unlike the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
operated both in intelligence and counter-intelligence capacities, so in contrast to the Zenyth Task Group, which was tailored to a specific operation and concentrated on intelligence gathering, the Kaskad Task Groups were organised to provide support to the KGB counter intelligence operatives in theater, suppressing covert activities in the towns and hunting down agents cross-country. In addition those task groups had the mission to select, train and mentor groups of Afghans which would take over their duties once the Kaskad is brought back to the Soviet Union and dissolved. In April 1983 the Kaskad-4 was relieved by the Omega Special Operations Task Group () with the same tasks as the Kaskad teams. The name of the task force (the last letter in the Greek alphabet) indicated it to be the last unit of that sort to be deployed to Afghanistan. Omega was composed of 9 mobile special operations task groups (8 located in the interior of the country, the ninth group located together with the unit HQ in
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
). This task group concluded the building of local Afghan capabilities within the Afghan Counter-Intelligence Service KAM and its Special Operations Tasks Battalion to take over the responsibilities of the KGB assets deployed on site.
Formation
Vympel follows the lineage of Zenyth, Kaskad and Omega combined. On August 19, 1981 at a classified meeting the Soviet government made the decision for a permanent Special Operations Task Group within the KGB's First Chief Directorate. The new group was formed around the cadre of Zenith, Kaskad-1 and Kaskad-2 in order to retain the proficiency level of the operatives and to retain the lessons learned in the process of fighting irregular warfare in Afghanistan.
The founding commander of Vympel is
Captain 1st Rank
Captain 1st rank (russian: Капитан 1-го ранга, Kapitan 1-go ranga, lit=Captain of the 1st rank) is a rank used by the Russian Navy and a number of former communist states. The rank is the most senior rank in the staff officers' ca ...
Ewald Kozlov, a graduate of the Baku Naval Officer School, with a service career in the
Northern Fleet
Severnyy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem
, start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...
and the
Caspian Flotilla
Kaspiyskaya flotiliya
, image = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Great emblem of the Caspian Flotilla
, dates = No ...
. In 1968 he entered the Soviet Military Academy and the Military Diplomatic Academy (the training establishment of the
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
) after that, graduating in 1970. Right after that Kozlov transferred from the Soviet Armed Forces to the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
, entering the
First Chief Directorate
The First Main Directorate () of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence activities by providing for the training and management of cove ...
's Department "S" (overseas illegal operatives). In 1972 he became an instructor at the KUOS. In 1979 he deployed with Zenyth to Afghanistan. Upon his return to the Soviet Union he headed the KUOS, a position vacated by the death of Col. Boyarinov in
Operation Storm-333
Operation Storm-333 (russian: Шторм-333, ), also known as the Tajbeg Palace Assault, was executed by the Soviet Union in Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghanistan on 27 December 1979. It saw Spetsnaz storm the heavily fortified Tajbeg ...
. Named Vympel's first commander, he was replaced in 1985 and promoted to the Headquarters of
First Chief Directorate
The First Main Directorate () of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence activities by providing for the training and management of cove ...
.
With its formation the Vympel Special Operations Task Group was put under the command of First Chief Directorate's Department "S" - the KGB's overseas clandestine service () under the covert name Independent Training Center ( ()). The new unit's mission statement was ordered as follows:
* intelligence gathering deep within the enemy's rear ()
*
HUMINT
Human intelligence (abbreviated HUMINT and pronounced as ''hyoo-mint'') is Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the List of intelligence gathering disciplines, more technical ...
()
* diversion and assault in strategic locations of the enemy ()
* seizure of enemy surface vessels and submarines ()
* security of Soviet diplomatic locations overseas ()
* combat against terror organisations () and other tasks.
The unit was formed in 1981 by the KGB Maj. Gen.
Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov within the
First Chief Directorate
The First Main Directorate () of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence activities by providing for the training and management of cove ...
of the KGB, as a dedicated
spetsnaz
Spetsnaz are special forces in numerous post-Soviet states. (The term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or .)
Historically, the term ''spetsnaz'' referred to the So ...
unit specialised in deep penetration,
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
, universal direct and
covert action, protection of Soviet
embassies
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
and
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
cell
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...
activation in case of war. Most of the Vympel operatives mastered two or three foreign languages since they were intended to act in foreign countries, deep behind enemy lines. Vympel was tasked with assassinating the top leadership of enemy states and destroying strategic infrastructure in the critical "special period," when the outbreak of war between the superpowers would have been unavoidable.
Vympel quickly gained the reputation of being among the best Soviet special forces units, surpassing its
GRU
The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...
and
MVD
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia.
The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...
counterparts. However, after the collapse of the USSR, Vympel was decimated by endless re-organisation and re-definition. It passed under the aegis of the Security Ministry before being receded to the GUO (the two institutions were short-lived offspring of the ex-KGB during the
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
era) and finally passed to the MVD (Interior Ministry). However, the ''
militsiya
''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, , mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə) was the name of the police forces in the Soviet Union (until 1991) and in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), as well as in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992). The ...
'' had no use for such a unit. The bulk of the Vympel operatives could not stand the humiliation of being subordinated to the police, and duly resigned: of 278 officers, only 57 chose to remain within the MVD. The unit was renamed "Vega."
In 1995, the
FSB RF Special Operations Center (TsSN FSB RF) was granted control over Vympel. The group regained its original name and was reintegrated into the Intelligence Service structures. The emphasis shifted from covert and clandestine sabotage operations to
counter-terrorism
Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...
and nuclear safety enforcement. Vympel operatives undergo special training related to improvised or special explosive devices, permitting them to use "terrorist-like" tactics to carry out their operations. Physical training includes close hand combat, parachute training, diving, underwater combat techniques, climbing, and alpine rope techniques. Regional groups of Vympel were deployed in cities with especially important nuclear facilities.
Vympel, abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V) of the
TsSN FSB of the Russian Federation, is still a classified and secretive unit. It took part in Russia's
Chechen campaigns and in storming of the
Supreme Soviet
The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ...
building during the
1993 Russian constitutional crisis
The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukaz 1400, was a political stand-off and a constitutional crisis between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and t ...
. Little is known about its current operations and activities, with the exception being the capture of the Chechen militant leader
Salman Raduyev
Salman Betyrovich Raduyev (or Raduev; russian: Салма́н Бетырович Раду́ев; February 13, 1967 – December 14, 2002) was a Chechen separatist field commander, from 1994 to 1999, who masterminded and was responsible for t ...
in March 2000 and
the assault on the school in Beslan in September 2004.
Vadim Krasikov, who was named as a suspect in the murder of a Russian businessman in 2013 in Moscow and as 2022 convicted murderer of
Zelimkhan Khangoshvili
Zelimkhan Sultanovich Khangoshvili ( ce, Хангин Султан-кIант Зелимхан, ka, ზელიმხან სულთანოვიჩი ხანგოშვილი}, russian: Зелимхан Султанович Ха ...
, is - according to investigations by Bellingcat - suggested a member or former member of Vympel.
See also
*
Alpha Group
Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group (a popular English name), or Alfa, whose official name is Directorate "A" of the FSB Special Purpose Center (TsSN FSB) (Russian: Спецназ ФСБ "Альфа"), is an elite stand-alone sub-unit o ...
References
External links
*
Boris Volodarsky
Boris B. Volodarsky (russian: Борис Борисович Володарский; born 14 August 1955 in Syzran, Kuybyshev Oblast) is an English historian, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, specialising in Intelligence History, which he ha ...
License to Kill ''Wall Street Journal,'' 20 December 2006
* Kolpakidi, Aleksandr
Ликвидаторы КГБ. Спецоперации советских спецслужб 1941-2004 — М.: Яуза; Эксмо, 2004.
* Hackard, Mark.
KGB Spetsnaz and World War III" ''Espionage History Archive'', Retrieved 08-24-2015.
{{Beslan school siege
Beslan school siege
Counterterrorist organizations
Federal Security Service
KGB
Military units and formations of the Soviet Union
Special forces of Russia