Terrorist attacks in the suburbs of Moscow ｜ What is the strength of the Russian anti-terrorism special forces that have attracted much attention？

The terrorist attacks in Russia shocked the world and made Russian anti-terrorism forces the focus of discussion.

According to CCTV news reported on March 26, local time, on March 26, the Russian Federal Security Service announced that it had foiled a terrorist attack that was planned to be carried out in a humanitarian relief material receiving station in Samara. Bortnikov, director of the Russian Federal Security Service, said that Russia still faces a terrorist threat.

On the evening of March 22, local time, a terrorist attack took place in the "Saffron City Hall" in Moscow, Russia. According to the statistics of the Russian investigation Committee, the attack has caused 143 deaths and 182 injuries, and the concert hall building was burned in the fire. This is the most serious terrorist attack in Russia in the past two decades. Soon after, Russian military and police personnel, including Chechen special forces, quickly took action and completed the interception and arrest when the murderer was about 100 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border in Bryansk State.

In order to deal with terrorism, Russia has set up several special operations forces that are very professional and have strong combat effectiveness, and carried out work according to the characteristics of anti-terrorism operations.

The professional anti-terrorism force born of terrorist attacks

Russia has long been threatened by terrorism. In the mid-1990s, terrorist activities in Russia became increasingly rampant and showed an upward trend. In the early 21st century, it reached an unprecedented scale, and terrorist attacks with global significance such as Beslan hostage incident occurred at this stage. Terrorists from Chechnya, Central Asia and Afghanistan entered Russia to spread terrorism, extremism and separatism, recruit members and plan terrorist activities.

In order to deal with the threat of terrorism, Russia has been paying more attention to the construction of anti-terrorism mechanism, and at the same time, it has intensified its efforts to crack down on terrorist activities. At present, it has formed a relatively solid foundation of anti-terrorism laws and regulations, and established a vertical command and coordination system for anti-terrorism operations. At the same time, Russia also attaches great importance to the implementation of anti-terrorism operations, and has established several special combat forces with very professional and strong combat effectiveness to carry out work according to the characteristics of anti-terrorism operations.

At present, Russia’s special anti-terrorism forces mainly include the General Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, the Alpha and the Signal Flag, and the Russian Federal Internal Security Forces, among which the Alpha and the Signal Flag belong to the Federal Security Administration and the Internal Security Forces belong to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Among them, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, also known as Gruu, claims to be the most confidential department of Russian intelligence agencies. On October 21, 1918, at Trotsky’s suggestion, Lenin signed an order to formally set up the registration department under the Field General Staff of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Republic to lead the military intelligence work on all fronts of the Red Army in a unified way, with Simon Ivanovich Aranov, who was born in Cheka, as the first minister. The story of "Gruwu" begins, and November 5 every year is designated as the anniversary of the establishment of "Gruwu". Unlike the KGB (the KGB was split into two parts after the disintegration of the Soviet Union: the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service), Gruwu did not sink after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and still played an important role in the armed forces of the Russian Federation. On November 5, 2006, on the 88th anniversary of the founding of Grupo, the new headquarters of Grupo in Moscow was officially opened.

The specific establishment and tasks of the special operations forces under the "Gruu" remain a mystery until today. It is reported that there are currently 24 well-trained special assault brigades in Gruu, with a total number of about 30,000 people. Its main task is to deter and prevent sudden attacks and strike behind enemy lines. Its main base is located in Chuchikovo, Ryazan, Russia. From the two wars in Chechnya to the little green men in Crimea, to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and the civil war in Syria, there are "Gruu" special forces. It is generally believed that on April 21, 1996, it was the "Gruu" special forces that provided accurate strike guidance on the spot, which enabled two Russian Su -25 fighters to launch missiles and successfully killed Chechen rebel leader dudayev, who was making a mobile phone call to the outside world.

In recent ten years, the actions against other Chechen rebel leaders, such as basaev, maskhadov and others, are basically recognized by the outside world as being related to "Gruwu". At the end of 2015, five Russian special forces were killed in combat operations in Syria. Although Russian officials once denied it, it is generally believed that these people are soldiers of Gruu. In the centennial celebration speech in 2018, Putin fully affirmed the role played by Gruu in Syria in the past few years, pointing out that Gruu provided vital target information and other intelligence for the Russian army to crack down on extremist organizations in Syria.

Both "Alpha" and "Signal Flag" special forces belong to the Federal Security Administration. The two armies have made great achievements in the hostage incident in the theater of Moscow Bearing Factory and the hostage incident in Beslan, which has attracted the attention of Russia and abroad.

The purpose of "Alpha" special forces is mainly to engage in anti-terrorism activities in Russia and deal with terrorism such as hostage-taking and bomb-planting. Its history can be traced back to 1974. It was originally called "KGB Group A" and was renamed "Alpha" in 1991. "Alpha" special forces are carefully selected from national security organs, airborne troops, border guards and military school graduates. In addition to being physically strong and responsive, they also need to pass intelligence tests.

The unit has now become the backbone of Russia’s counter-terrorism. In 1993, the terrorist Zaharijev hijacked a Russian civil aviation Il -86 passenger plane. Alpha was ordered to go out, sneaked into the cabin from the cargo hold at night, and quickly subdued the gangsters. Zaharijev was captured on the spot, and the plane and passengers were all safe. In a hijacking incident in 1997, "Alpha" once again captured the gangster alive, and all 142 passengers were safe and sound.

Among the anti-terrorism forces, the "Alpha" and "Signal Flag" special forces are two well-known forces, both of which belong to the Federal Security Administration.

The main task of the "signal flag" special forces is to carry out the security work of Russian institutions abroad, including anti-sabotage, anti-espionage, anti-subversion and defending the leaders. The "signal flag" special forces was established in 1981, initially under the KGB Anti-Spy Bureau, and then disbanded and reorganized in 1993. It is reported that the "signal flag" special forces usually carry out activities in classes, and the number of people in each class ranges from 10 to 30. When the situation is urgent, several classes can be quickly combined to form a larger force.

According to the data, during the war in Afghanistan, the "signal flag" has been active, and every province in Afghanistan has its action team. In addition, "Signal Flag" has conducted similar activities in Cuba, Syria, Vietnam, Mozambique, Angola and Nicaragua. In 1992, 10 members of the "signal flag" subdued 14 armed thugs in 10 seconds at the "three stations" subway station in Moscow, and seized $1 million in counterfeit US dollars. In 1993, the "signal flag" special forces successfully stopped a premeditated terrorist explosion outside Yekaterinburg. On July 16, 2023, five Russian "signal flag" special forces went deep behind enemy lines and carried out sabotage operations on an underground ammunition depot in Odessa.

The special forces of the internal affairs forces of the Russian Federation are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, mainly including the 604 Special Operations Center, Rosic and other special forces. Among them, the 604 Special Operations Center was formed by the merger of the "Warrior" special forces and the "Ross" special forces. It is the core of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and is responsible for counter-terrorism and other tasks such as responding to domestic riots and prison riots. The special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have also made great achievements in many anti-terrorist operations, including the hostage incident in the Grand Theatre of Moscow Bearing Factory, and they also belong to one of the backbone of Russian anti-terrorist operations.

After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russian anti-terrorism forces also participated, which affected the domestic anti-terrorism capability to some extent. Although Russia discloses little information, it is generally believed that the fierce conflict between Russia and Ukraine has contained Russia’s anti-terrorism forces. According to media reports, on July 16, 2023, five Russian "signal flag" special forces went deep behind enemy lines and carried out sabotage operations on an underground ammunition depot in Odessa. It was reported that the Russian army had attacked the facility with cruise missiles before, but it was unsuccessful. In order to completely destroy the underground ammunition depot, the Russian army sent a sabotage team behind the enemy lines composed of five special warfare players to secretly approach the target and launch a surprise attack. After killing several defenders, the Russian army installed a timed explosive device to blow up the ammunition depot, and then all the staff returned to the station safely.

A rising star of Chechen special forces

In addition to the above troops, the Chechen special forces involved in the arrest of the suspects of the "concert hall terrorist attack" are also a rising star in the Russian anti-terrorism field.

After the Chechen war ended in 2001, local terrorist activities were very active. In order to effectively crack down on terrorist activities carried out by illegal organizations, while sending a large number of federal troops, the Russian central government also agreed to set up local armed forces subordinate to local leaders.

In order to stabilize the domestic situation, Chechen leader Kadyrov recruited 7,000-14,000 separatist militants in 2002 -2005, and incorporated some of them into the security department of the Republic. Only the independent patrol team of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs has 10 companies (about 4,000 people). In order to effectively carry out anti-terrorism operations, Kadyrov established the Northern Battalion and the Southern Battalion in 2006. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs gave them the official designations of Independent Special Battalion 248 and 249, and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs also allocated 2 billion rubles for them. After the establishment of the two battalions, they were controlled by the 46th Mobu Brigade stationed in Chechnya by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Each battalion consists of three patrol companies, one reconnaissance company and one support unit, and the support unit consists of medical platoon, communication platoon and technical support platoon. The total number of the two battalions is more than 1,200, including more than 700 in the northern battalion, which is stationed in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, mainly to protect the security of the capital, and more than 500 in the southern battalion, which is stationed in Vijno area, which is adjacent to the Republic of Dagestan. The local terrorist activities are very active and cracked down.

At present, the "Ahmat" rapid reaction special force is a well-known Chechen unit, which belongs to the National Guard of the Russian Federation and is deployed in Chechnya. It was named "Ahmat" to commemorate the first Chechen President akhmad kadyrov. This special force was established in 2009, and its commander is the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic, Apti Arnold. After the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict broke out in February 2022, the "Ahmat" special forces participated in the war against Ukraine and achieved some results.