MEET 'SPETSNAZ,' SOVIET SPECIAL FORCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950064-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: May 16, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950064-8
AMAMI
~.~Ya7 ra=sk ~ t~
WASHINGTON POST
16 May 1986
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA J
Meet `Spetsnaz,' Soviet Special Forces
They are the true mystery men of the Soviet
Union, that riddle wrapped in a mystery inside
an enigma. The few Kremlin officials who
know about their existence refer to them by the
name "Spetsnaz," or special purpose forces.
Needless to say, the Soviet man on the street
knows exactly "nitchevo" about the Spetsnaz. He
has read no tales of their derring-do in far-off lands;
he knows none of their names, though some could
be classified as Soviet heroes.
A secret Defense Department report explains
why the petsnaz have been kept a deep secret:
"Considering these units as clandestine assets
and being an integral part of their intelligence and
security or anization, t o Soviets have-kept these
units out o pu is scrutiny to a far greater degree
than their conventional forces.
"Glorious descriptions of their achievements in
training exercises are never published [and] there
is no distinctive uniform or insignia identifying
them. Instead, the usual uniform is that of the
airborne forces, or in the case of naval [Spetsnazl
simply the standard navy uniform."
Because of this it has taken Western intelligence
services years to form even the murkiest picture of
Spetsalnaya Naznacheniya What Western analysts
have determined is that the Spetsnaz are used for
special missions at t o a est o oviet m e igence
and security services.
ether these special agents report to the GRU
(military intelligence) , the Red Army or some other
Soviet agency, ante igence experts have
decided that the retains ultimate control and
responsibility, under direct supervision of the
Soviet Central Committee.
In addition, though, the KGB has its own
Spetsnaz people, the most notorious of whom are
the professional killers of Department Eight of the
KGB's First Chief Directorate. Department Eight
"has been connected with assassinations,
kidnapings, sabotage and other direct action
operations for decades," according to one Defense
Intelligence Agency expert.
There are also the KGB troops on the Soviet
Union's borders, num ring at least 250, 00, who
could be classified as special forces. And while the
)sentagon an entra ntelli ence Agency experts
May haggle over t e fine points, they agree that
certain units under the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
which maintains Communist Party control, should
count as Spetsnaz.
But the most dangerous Spetsnaz operatives are
those who report to the Soviet military intelligence
prQanization, which is the second-largest spy ou 1
in the world (second only to the KGB).
In each Spetsnaz r!ga e, t e career officers "are
the most highly trained individuals and are fluent in
one or more foreign languages," the Pentagon
report states, adding: "Their primary mission is
reported to be the assassination of enemy
leadership."
Each brigade includes three reconnaissance and
destruction battalions of some 30 teams of 10 men
each, plus signal, engineer and medical units. Naval
S e_p tsnaz units, though smaller, include paratroops,
frogmen and minisubmarine forces.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950064-8