Military adviser

Soviet military advisors

Beyond their involvement in Spain, China and Angola, Soviet military advisers were deployed extensively throughout the Cold War in support of allied governments and national liberation movements across Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Advisers served in countries like Egypt, Syria, Vietnam, Iraq, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Cuba and Mongolia, where they assisted with military planning, organisation, training, logistics, weapon maintenance and the integration of Soviet doctrine and equipment into local armed forces. Depending on the mission, Soviet personnel included senior advisers, instructors, technical specialists and military attachés. some of whom accompanied local units during combat operations or helped operate sophisticated weapon systems such as air defense missile networks. By the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union maintained one of the world's largest military advisory programmes, using these missions to strengthen allied militaries. support its foreign policy objectives and expand its strategic influence while avoiding the large scale deployment of Soviet combat forces in many regional conflicts.