Center special purpose The FSB was created in 1998 to combat terrorism in Russia and beyond. His structural units are the special unit "Alpha", the special unit "Vympel" and the Directorate special operations.
The center accepts officers and warrant officers, as well as cadets from military schools as candidates for officer positions. 97% of positions in the FSB special forces are officer positions. Warrant officers are given 3%; if admitted to the TsSN, they serve as drivers or instructors.
In this case, each candidate must provide a recommendation from either an existing or former employee"Alpha" or "Vympel". The Center is also engaged in an independent search for the most promising youth. Why do the center’s employees visit universities of the Ministry of Defense in order to study the personal files of cadets and conduct interviews with the most suitable of them for service in the FSB special forces. The most productive in this regard are the Novosibirsk Higher Combined Arms School, where there is a special forces department, and the Moscow Higher Military Command School.
There is an age limit - no older than 28 years. Also, height must be at least 175 cm so that the body armor does not hit the knees. However, these requirements are not dogma. If the candidate has any unique abilities or has combat experience, then they turn a blind eye.
A healthy body has a healthy spirit
Having accepted the documents required for admission from candidates, they begin to check their physical fitness. Testing is carried out within one day. Everything is done dynamically with minimal breaks between exercises. The requirements for applicants for service in Alpha are a little stricter than for candidates for Vympel. Below are the standards for Alpha.
You must run 3 kilometers at the stadium within 10 minutes 30 seconds.
After a 5-minute rest - 100 meters, control standard - 12.7 seconds.
Pull-ups on the bar - 25 times. This is followed by a 3-minute rest after each exercise.
Within 2 minutes, you need to do 90 flexions and extensions of the torso in a lying position.
90 push-ups.
After this, the candidate must complete the complex 7 times strength exercise:
15 push-ups;
15 flexions and extensions of the torso in a lying position;
15 transitions from the position “crouched” to “lying” and back;
15 jumps from a crouched position.
Each cycle is given 40 seconds. There are no rest periods between cycles.
Barbell bench press own weight(but not more than 100 kg) lying down - 10 times.
The main thing is to take the blow and move forward
Three minutes after the physical test, you must demonstrate hand-to-hand martial arts skills. In this case, the candidate performs in a helmet, gloves and protective pads on the legs and groin. He is opposed by an instructor or well trained in the field hand-to-hand combat CSN employee. The fight lasts 3 rounds.
In the allotted time, it is not at all necessary to defeat the instructor. During the battle, the instructor evaluates the candidate's potential capabilities: fighting qualities, ability to take a blow, will to win, focus on attacking in conditions of physical fatigue, ability to change battle tactics depending on the prevailing circumstances, reaction speed.
Of course, the instructor does not seek to “beat” the subject. During the fight, he gives him the initiative to better understand what he is worth. The more active the candidate is in the ring, the more highly appreciated he receives even in the case of significant errors in technology. Subsequently, during training, the recruit will learn all the techniques and skills necessary to conduct effective hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, the main task of the instructor is to find out whether the candidate is capable of learning.
Those who are passive in the fight are immediately rejected, going into deep defense.
Major tests ahead
At the next stage, the candidate is placed at the disposal of doctors in order to undergo in-depth studies of his health status. And here the requirements are higher than for cadets of military universities, since the future special forces officer must endure enormous physical exercise. And they shouldn't interfere effective implementation combat missions. At the same time, one of the primary tasks that the medical commission solves is to determine suitability for airborne training.
In parallel with these studies, a special check is carried out, during which it is revealed that the candidate has undesirable connections. And not only from him, but also from his closest relatives. Relatives are checked for criminal records.
The next stage of the competitive marathon is an examination by a psychologist. It is necessary to study the candidate’s personality - character, temperament, interests and passions, moral attitudes, reactions to certain stimuli and other characteristics important for service in the FSB special forces. All this information is entered into your personal file.
This is followed by a polygraph test of the candidate’s veracity. First of all, moments are revealed that he would like to hide, “dark spots” of his past and present: connections with crime, addiction to alcohol and drugs, corruption tendencies, an antisocial lifestyle.
The country's shield against terrorism. The work of soldiers of the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia. Photo report
First, briefly about the FSB Special Purpose Center. This unit Federal service security Russian Federation, created on October 8, 1998 on the initiative of the Director of the FSB of Russia V.V. Putin by combining special-purpose units of security agencies into a single team.
The main task of the TsSN FSB of Russia is to combat international terrorism on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond, including activities to identify, prevent, suppress, disclose and investigate terrorist acts through operational combat and other activities. It is especially worth noting that the Federal Security Service acts in strict accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, even in cases where its activities may look illegal and immoral in the opinion of some uninitiated and incompetent citizens.
Over the fifteen years of its existence, employees of the TsSN FSB of Russia, independently or in cooperation with various units, carried out many operational combat activities, during which they confiscated significant amount weapons, ammunition, explosives, hundreds of hostages captured by militants were freed, active members of gangs were neutralized, including such odious leaders as Salman Raduev, Arbi Baraev, Aslan Maskhadov, Rappani Khalilov, Anzor Astemirov, emissaries of the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in the North Caucasus Abu-Umar, Abu-Haws, Seif Islam and others.
According to indirect data, over the years of work of the FSB TsSN, several hundred officers were killed in combat operations in the country and abroad, more than two thousand times they were awarded state awards, twenty military personnel were awarded honorary title"Hero of the Russian Federation".
Currently, the Federal Security Service is headed by Army General Alexander Vasilyevich Bortnikov.
TsSN FSB has the best and most modern equipment. This is its main difference from the army and other law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation. In their work, the Center's officers use the best that Russian and foreign military science and industry can provide. In the fight against terrorism, any other approach would be inappropriate.
There are a lot of people who want to get into service at the Center. The selection is strict: first of all, the TsSN focuses on people who have already proven themselves to be professionals in one of the areas of special training, who have combat experience and a good military education, as well as graduates of universities of the Ministry of Defense, internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Service FSB and Ryazan Airborne School. At the same time, the Center trains professionals in categories that only they can train themselves - snipers, parachutists and combat swimmers.
Providing first aid to the wounded. Of the “Golden Hour” allotted for rescuing a wounded person, the first 15 minutes are considered the most important; the faster and more qualified assistance is provided, the greater the chance of salvation for the victim
In addition to physical data, special attention is paid to high moral and psychological qualities. When joining one of the Center’s structures, the candidate must be ready, if circumstances so require, to give his life saving the lives of hostages. The study process lasts at least a year and a half, and the dropout rate is very large.
As for fire training, it has a pronounced applied nature. The emphasis is on developing stable shooting skills in conditions that are as close as possible to real-life situations. The level of training of TsSN employees allows them to take prizes in all-Russian and international competitions, as well as effectively solve the entire range of operational and combat missions.
The entire training system is aimed at developing young employees. It is carried out by managers at all levels and instructors. It includes, among other aspects, the institute of mentoring, undergoing various training camps, classes and receiving good operational training in training centers and institutions of the FSB. One of the main tasks set at the Center is not only to teach how to shoot well and master hand-to-hand combat techniques, but above all to consciously act as part of a unit.
One of the traditional questions asked to FSB special forces commanders is: how long does it take to develop a true professional from a beginner? In previous years the answer was: five years. Now professional development is happening much faster: this is the specificity! For the last ten years, the Center has been continuously involved in special operations in the North Caucasus, which affects the quality of its personnel.
Alpha Group or Directorate "A" TsSN FSB- a special unit of the Federal Security Service of Russia, intended mainly for the release of hostages and anti-terrorist operations.
general information
Formed by order of the Chairman of the KGB Yu.V. Andropov in 1974 as a response to the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics. Initially, it was a group of 30 people, subordinate first to the 5th and then to the 7th Main Directorate of the KGB. Currently subordinate to the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia; special forces with the same name for a similar purpose are available in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The exact composition and size of the Alpha group is strictly classified.
Preparation of TsSN FSB "Alpha"
Initially, the Alpha group was staffed exclusively by officers and warrant officers (the latter are about 3% of the number, they occupy mainly auxiliary positions, for example, instructors). Age limit for candidates - 28 years old (for those who came from other special forces, there is no this limit). There is also one serious physical limitation for candidates - height must be at least 175 centimeters. This is due to the fact that during operations, employees often use heavy armored shields of impressive dimensions. For short employees, these protective equipment simply drag on the ground.
Physical fitness requirements:
- Running 100 meters in 12 seconds;
- 3000 meters in 10.5 minutes;
- Pull-ups on the bar - 25 times;
- Torso bending - 90 times in 2 minutes;
- Push-ups from the floor - 90 times;
- Push-ups on parallel bars - 30 times.
- Complex strength exercise (15 push-ups, 15 flexions and extensions of the torso (testing the abdominals), then 15 times moving from the “crouched” position to the “lying position” and back, then 15 jumps from the “crouched” position up) - 7 once in a row.
Candidates undergo special screening and psychological testing. The consent of the candidate's parents and spouse is mandatory for enrollment in Alpha. Those who successfully pass all these stages of selection are enlisted in the special forces, receiving black berets and Anti-Terror knives, after which they leave for their groups, where they undergo training in their specialty for 3 years.
Combat Operations Alpha
The first of Alpha's most high-profile operations was the storming of the palace of the Afghan dictator Kh. Amin on December 27, 1979. 24 special forces officers were part of the combined assault group together with the Zenit and Cascade groups. Alpha operated in Afghanistan throughout armed conflict, performing tasks for anti-sabotage protection of Kabul and direct protection of the Soviet embassy.
One of the types of tasks that only Alpha successfully handled in the USSR was the release of planes hijacked by terrorists, which happened very often in the 1980s. This special unit was also involved in the release of hostages when they turned out to be children. The last most high-profile success of “Alpha” was a joint assault with the “Vityaz” group on a pre-trial detention center seized by criminals in Sukhumi on August 11-15, 1990.
After the collapse of the USSR, Alpha came under the jurisdiction of the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia. It was she who was involved in the release of hostages in Budyonnovsk, the theater on Dubrovka and Beslan. Also, Alpha officers serve on a permanent basis in Chechnya, where they are engaged in the capture and destruction of particularly important leaders of the terrorist underground.
Armament and equipment
At the time of the creation of the Alpha group, there were practically no specialized anti-terror weapons in the Soviet Union. The main weapons of the special forces were a Kalashnikov assault rifle with a silencer, Makarov pistols and sniper rifle Dragunov and edged weapons. There simply were no compact rapid-fire weapons, most suitable for combat at a very short distance. Nevertheless, the unit, even with weapons that were not very suitable for this, successfully freed hostages, including those captured on airplanes.
The situation with weapons began to change by the beginning of the 1980s, when the AS Val and . They were much better suited for anti-terrorism operations in urban environments, since a heavy 9-mm bullet transferred all the energy to the tissues when it hit the target human body, while piercing almost any body armor.
Alpha officers were also the first to receive the Grach and Gyurza pistols, loaded with reinforced cartridges capable of penetrating body armor. New models of submachine guns were also primarily adopted by this special forces unit.
Due to the need to fight in urban environments, FSB special forces are equipped with heavy body armor and titanium helmets.
The center is part of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and Combating Terrorism.
The head is Lieutenant General Alexander Tikhonov, before him - Major General Valery Andreev.
Structure:
- Control "A"
- Control "B"
- Directorate (formerly Service) of Special Operations (MTR)
The base of the Special Purpose Center is located in Balashikha-2, Military Unit № 35690. Contact phone numbers: 523-63-43, 523-90-60. The Alpha group training center has been called “Priboy” for twenty-five years. ().
Below brief information about losses, problems and combat path all three Directorates.
From a letter that came to Shchekochikhin’s department in Novaya Gazeta from the fighters of group “A” (March 2004):
- “At the end of last year, the chief of staff of the Center, Lieutenant General A. M., was forced to retire from the center to the reserve - a legendary personality, a man who went through the path from ensign to general in group “A”, through Afghanistan and Chechnya. One of latest transactions, which he led - the capture of Salman Raduev. By the way, after the capture of Raduev, the staff colonel, who was the first to report by telephone to Moscow about the successful completion of the operation, received the star of the Hero of Russia, and M., the man who personally carried out the capture, was awarded a medal.
Many of our military officers, whose contracts expire this year, are leaving for civilian life, not wanting to serve under the command of “parquet” generals. With the arrival of Colonel V. (the current commander of group “A” - Ed.), his former colleagues, their children, and relatives followed him to us.
And due to the fact that professionals began to leave the TsSN, they began to take us according to the limit.
For this purpose, a third dormitory is already being built on the basis of the center in B. After signing the contract, soldiers are awarded the rank of ensign and are first temporarily and then permanently registered in Moscow. For the guys from the provinces, this is the ultimate dream. For our leadership, such people are very convenient; they look their bosses in the mouth and carry out the most ridiculous, illiterate orders.”
From a letter sent to Yu. Shchekochikhin in Novaya Gazeta from the fighters of group “A” (TsSN) (July 2003):
- “At the headquarters of the FSB TsSN, led by General Tikhonov, there is a legendary figure in the center - Colonel S. By profession, this gentleman is the main sniper of the center. With a modest officer’s salary, while still a captain, he managed to build a three-story cottage outside the city with a whole fleet of luxury foreign cars , in his garage there are about five cars and several motorcycles from the best Japanese companies. Calculate how much just one motorcycle can cost. Together with members of one of the criminal gangs, he owns his own car service and restaurant in the center of Moscow. At some point, the prosecutor's office appeared. questions to him, but thanks to the patronage higher powers The leadership of the FSB managed to solve all the problems.
Now - about one of the sponsors of the FSB TsSN. Once upon a time, a modest officer Eduard Bendersky served in the center. He retired with the rank of senior lieutenant. In civilian life, he created a private security company (private security company) “Vympel-A” under the “roof” of our center. It is personally supervised by our General Tikhonov.
Bendersky drives a Gelendvagen jeep and has both a special ticket and a cover certificate. Almost all banquets, concerts, and competitions are paid for by his private security company. Mr. Bendersky himself regularly comes to the sauna to take a steam bath, despite the fact that this sauna is located on the territory of a special security facility of the Central Social Security Center. He prefers to steam in the company of the center's management.
Now let’s talk about something more painful.
Taking advantage of the fact that we are a secret agency, all appointments are leadership positions happen in secret from everyone, including us.
Recently, Colonel V. was appointed commander of the Alpha group. Alpha is combat unit, one hundred percent of our personnel went through Chechnya, many went through Afghanistan, participated in combat operations, and our commander was a man who spent his entire life in various positions in the personnel department - a professional clerk. His last position was the head of the personnel department of the Center for Social Security. This is a person who has no experience of combat operations, not even simple experience of operational work.
And this is already the second commander imposed on us from the outside. His predecessor was also a personnel officer. He came to us as a colonel, received a general - and rushed higher.
A similar situation is in the Vympel group. Group commander U. spent his entire service in the personnel department.
All these appointments only lead to an even greater outflow of truly competent military officers from the bodies. What remains are mostly opportunists who look their bosses in the face.”
See also on "Agentura":
Special forces: Special forces of the security agencies of the USSR and Russia Interview with the deputy head of the operational-combat department of Directorate "B" of the Special Purpose Center (the famous "Vympel") S.I. Shavrina. During the storming of the theater on Dubrovka, he commanded one of the assault groupsDirectorate "A" TsSN FSB of Russia (Alpha Group)
Chief - Major General Vladimir Vinokurov, assistant - participant in the liquidation of the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, captain 1st rank - O. Pilshchikov ()Created on July 29, 1974 on the initiative of the Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Yu. Andropov and the Head of the Seventh Directorate of the KGB of the USSR General Alexei Beschastny. Until 1985, the top-secret Alpha unit was under personal control Secretary General and the leadership of the KGB. The full name of the unit until August 1991 was Group “A” of the ODP service of the 7th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. Initially, the number of employees did not exceed 40 people. It was staffed mainly by USSR KGB officers who had undergone special training and were fit for health reasons to serve in the Airborne Forces.
Special purpose group "A" - the fight against terrorism and other "extremist" actions that are associated with hostage-taking, Vehicle, state facilities on the territory of the USSR and abroad.
By the time the USSR collapsed, there were about 500 officers. (Branches in Kyiv, Minsk, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Alma-Ata). On this moment in Moscow, not counting three regional divisions (Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk), there are about 250 people.
After the collapse of the USSR, group "A" was part of the Main Directorate of Security (GUO) of the Russian Federation. Among other tasks, "A" until 1993 provided security for the President of the Russian Federation. In 1993, Alpha refused to storm the White House. In August 1995, after M. Barsukov headed the FSB of the Russian Federation, the Alpha group was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Main Directorate of the Russian Federation to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
In 1998, Putin, when he was director of the FSB, remembered Alpha. He issued an order on the “reorganization of departments “A” and “B”. According to it, “in order to reduce redundant structures” in “Alpha” and “Vympel” the headquarters and management were disbanded, as well as support units - snipers, explosives, communications. The remaining ones alone battle groups were reduced to an “anti-terrorist center”, the brainchild of Savostyanov, renamed the department for combating terrorism. At the same time, reports appeared that as a result of the reorganization, about a third of the officers of the Alpha and Vympel special groups were forced to leave the service, since the state does not have the funds to maintain highly qualified specialists in the fight against terrorism.
Leaders:
- From 1974 to 1978, the group leader was Hero Soviet Union(for Damansky Island) Colonel Vitaly Bubenin. (From border guards. In 1978 he returned to PoV)
- From 1978 to 1988, the commander of group “A” was Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union Gennady Nikolaevich Zaitsev.
- From 1988 to August 1991 - Major General, Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor Fedorovich Karpukhin
- From 1991 to 1992 - Colonel Mikhail Golovatov.
- From 1992 to March 1995 - again Gennady Zaitsev.
- From March 1995 to 1999, the group was headed by Major General Alexander Gusev
- From 1999 to 2000 - Major General Alexander Miroshnichenko
- Currently - Vladimir Vinokurov
Stock:
- December 1979 - "A" employees take part in the storming of the Presidential Palace of Afghan President Hafizullah Amin. In three columns, in armored personnel carriers, the attackers broke through to the palace along a bombarded road. Then the attackers burst into the palace under heavy fire. Result - Afghan President H. Amin was killed. Four attackers were killed, including two Alpha employees: Dmitry Zudin and Gennady Volkov.
- 12/18/1981-Sarapul-hostage-taking at school. Two armed criminals kidnapped twenty-five students.
- 02.031982 - neutralization of gr. Ushakova on the territory of the US Embassy, armed with an improvised explosive device
- November 18-19, 1983 - hijacking of a Tu-134 aircraft in Tbilisi.
- 09/20/1988 - release of passengers of the Tu-134 aircraft captured by internal troops
- 1988 - Yakshiyants’ group seizes a bus with schoolchildren in Mineralnye Vody. Group "A" conducts Operation "Thunder": at the invitation of the Israeli government, "A" "met" the terrorists in Tel Aviv and "returned" them to Moscow.
- 08/13/1990 - operation to free hostages captured in the detention center in Sukhumi
- January 1991 - Group "A" takes part in the capture of the Vilnius television center. Employee “A” Viktor Shatskikh died during the capture. According to the former deputy head of "A" Sergei Goncharov, Shatskikh was shot in the back "from the crowd."
- August 1991 - during the coup d'etat, an unofficial meeting of Alpha fighters took place, at which they decided not to participate in the storming of the RSFSR parliament. Major General Viktor Karpukhin, commander of Group A, denied versions of the participation of his subordinates in the events in Moscow and Foros. He stated that “he personally did not receive any orders from Kryuchkov and, accordingly, did not carry them out. The group worked as usual.”
- October 4, 1993 - the Alpha group receives an order to storm the House of Soviets of the Russian Federation ("White House"). Alpha has arrived White House and entered into negotiations with the leadership of the RF Armed Forces and the defenders of the database. “Senior Lieutenant Seryozha,” who arrived at the meeting with the deputies, promised to take out all the people sitting in the DB and ensure their safety. He also stated that “it is not their place to deal with the political aspects of what is happening.” During the assault, employee “A” Gennady Sergeev, who was carrying a wounded man out of the building, was killed. According to the Alpha fighters, the bullet that hit the Alpha fighter between his helmet and body armor was fired from the building opposite the White House.
- June 17, 1995 - Group A takes part in the storming of the city hospital in Budenovsk, in which terrorists led by Sh. Basayev held more than 1 thousand people. During the storming of the hospital building, employees of “A”, officers Dmitry Burdyaev, Dmitry Ryabinkin and Vladimir Solovov, were killed, fifteen Alpha fighters were wounded. Commander “A” A. Gusev regards the actions of his unit as a victory over the terrorists, because after the actions of the unit, Basayev “released 300 hostages without any negotiations, in fact, a turning point came in the situation, peace negotiations became possible” (MN, N44, June 25 - July 2, 1995). According to Gusev, the enemy lost approx. during the operation. 20 people killed.
- September 20, 1995 - operation to free hostages captured on a bus. The terrorists demanded a helicopter to Makhachkala.
- October 1995 - fighters from Group A neutralized a terrorist who had seized a bus with passengers on Vasilyevsky Spusk in Moscow. The terrorist was killed during the assault.
The group's veterans' association is headed by former deputy group commander Sergei Goncharov. Press Secretary of the Association - Dmitry Lysenkov.
Alpha traditions:
- Goncharov: “Every year on December 27, we all come to the graves of all our fallen guys and celebrate Remembrance Day. The unit suffered the greatest losses in Budennovsk and Kizlyar. Five officers died there.”
Directorate "B" (formerly "Vympel")
The most famous security unit foreign intelligence The KGB of the USSR was the Vympel group. Created on August 19, 1981 for special operations, the Vympel group was part of the “S” directorate (illegal intelligence) of the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB of the USSR. Organizationally, Vympel was divided into squads (in combat conditions - groups) of 10 to 20 people.
The predecessors of Vympel were the Zenit and Cascade detachments. Official name- "Separate The educational center KGB of the USSR). Over the 20 years (this year) of the unit’s history, Vympel fighters conducted special operations outside the USSR (Afghanistan) and accumulated unique experience in reconnaissance and sabotage work, fought terrorists and freed hostages.
By order of the chairman of the KGB of the USSR, the group was created by the head of department “C”, Major General Drozdov Yuri Ivanovich. He was also her mentor. The first commander of the "Vympel" was the Hero of the Soviet Union (for Amin's palace) Kozlov Evald Grigorievich. Vympel consisted of about a thousand people. The fighter knew at least one foreign language, features of the country where you had to work.
Vympel fighters mastered light diving training at the 17th Special Forces brigade in Ochakov, studied shooting with Nicaraguan instructors, and underwent training in Cuba. We learned mountain training, trained in flights on SLLA (ultra-light aircraft) and could do a lot more. According to Yu.I. Drozdov, previously training one Vympel fighter cost 100,000 rubles a year. It took up to five years to prepare. “Vympel” was given a small territory on the twenty-fifth kilometer of the Gorky Highway, on the territory of the 101st intelligence school of the KGB of the USSR near Balashikha near Moscow in 1981. Now this is the territory of the FSO.
The training of the first groups was completed by the beginning of 1982. A baptism of fire"Vympel" was received in Afghanistan.
According to the deputy head of the Department for Combating Terrorism, Lieutenant General Vladimir Kozlov (former Vympel soldier), at that time the unit’s work was carried out in three directions: operational (obtaining intelligence information), operational-combat (implementation of received intelligence information and training special forces from military personnel Afghan Army for joint participation in combat operations) and conducting “operational games” with the aim of pitting the leaders of enemy armed formations against each other.
IN Peaceful time unit was used to search weak points in the protection of strategic objects. Saboteurs were sent to nuclear power plants and military factories with the aim of “seizing objects and carrying out sabotage.” At the same time, the security of the facilities was notified in advance about “the possible penetration of saboteurs for the purpose of carrying out terrorist attacks.” Some of the fighters were specially “exposed” so that the rest would carry out the task in the absence of group members or any links of the operation.
But nevertheless, all tasks without exception were completed by the Vympelov team with a “5”. They managed to get into atomic object"Arzamas-16", where nuclear weapons were produced and stored. They were able to determine the schedule and time of passage of the railway missile complex With nuclear warheads near one of the largest Russian cities.
When performing all these operations, the Vympelovites simulated the laying of demolition charges in the most vulnerable places"attacked" objects. With the beginning of the collapse of the USSR, Vympel began to be used on its territory. The soldiers visited all the hot spots former Union: Baku, Yerevan, Nakhichevan, Karabakh, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Chechnya, Moscow.
In 1991, after the putsch, Vympel came under the control of the Russian Ministry of Security. Since May 1991, the group was headed by Boris Petrovich Beskov (in the KGB system from the age of 12 - from the moment of enrollment in the Suvorov School at the USSR Ministry of State Security in 1952, he served in the 9th Directorate of the KGB, in the First Main Directorate, worked abroad. Fought in Afghanistan, in the "Cascade" group, has military awards).
In 1993, the group became part of the Presidential Security Service. Vympel was reoriented to new tasks: liberating nuclear facilities from terrorists, fighting drug trafficking, armed criminal groups or illegal armed groups. The Vympelov team had to work out options for various operations to liberate Russian nuclear power plants and ships with nuclear power from terrorists. power plants and production centers nuclear weapons.
In July 1993 nuclear icebreaker"Sibir", conditionally captured by terrorists, the Vympelov team of 25 people attacked from three directions simultaneously: from land, from under water and from the air. Within seven minutes after the start of the operation, the command was informed of its successful completion. The destruction of terrorists was practiced at the Beloyarsk, Kalinin and Kursk nuclear power plants, the Novopolotsk petrochemical plant and in Arzamas-16.
During the October events, Vympel, like Alpha, refused to storm parliament. At this time, the unit was headed by Lieutenant General Dmitry Gerasimov. As a result, the unit was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There "Vympel" received the name "Vega". Out of several hundred people, fifty agreed to wear police stripes. Having learned about the collapse of Vympel, representatives of the largest security agency in the United States came to Moscow and offered a job. The special forces refused and decided that they could find a use for themselves here too. Some went to the foreign intelligence service, helping to smuggle our people out of hot spots in Africa. Five work in the Ministry of emergency situations. Twenty returned to the FSK, to the newly created Directorate of Special Operations (now TsSN FSB).
Only in August 1995, by presidential decree, Vympel was returned to the Department for Combating Terrorism under the FSB of Russia. Today the legal successor of Vympel is Directorate B of the FSB Department for Combating Terrorism.
During the existence of Vympel, several dozen people died: mainly in Afghanistan, and then in operations inside the USSR. During the events near the White House in 1993, a sniper killed Gennady Sergeev, an Alpha fighter who had previously served in Vympel. The last person killed, Andrei Chirikhin, died in Chechnya in 2000. Meanwhile, Vladimir Kozlov, at a press conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Vympel, said “in the entire history of its existence, the unit has lost only four employees. One died in Afghanistan in Kandahar, one died in August 1996 while defending a FSB dormitory in Chechnya, and another two were lost in this Chechen campaign."
Currently, the bulk of the Vympel group, according to her former boss Anatoly Isaikin, consists of people from counterintelligence who were previously involved in intelligence. They are all well trained, but each has a specialization. On average, training a fighter in an anti-terrorism group takes five years. Vladimir Kozlov also noted that employee salaries special unit higher than that of ordinary FSB employees - six thousand rubles plus bonuses for special operations.
Developed in the late 1990s on the basis of a biathlon rifle for arming riot police and FSB special forces. At low levels for sniper weapons ballistic characteristics has very high accuracy shooting and the quiet sound of a shot.
Reloading is done manually. The magazine is detachable and holds 10 rounds.
The stock is symmetrically shaped (equally comfortable for shooting from the left and right hand), consists of two parts. The stock is detachable, of skeletal design, equipped with a butt plate and cheek piece. At the bottom of the butt under the hinged lid there is space for two spare magazines. Instead of a buttstock, a pistol grip can be installed. The forend has a groove for attaching a height-adjustable bipod.
On the rifles of the first years of production, the stock and butt were made of varnished wood, but in 2007 the SV-99 received a stock and butt made of durable aircraft-grade multi-layer dark green plywood similar to the SV-98 type, and in 2009 - an improved version of the stock and butt made of black plastic.
Open sighting devices no, but the rifle has a dovetail mount for mounting an optical sight.
What special tasks do special forces perform with the help of such weak and short-ranged (what a word!), almost toy weapons?
1. Covert destruction of enemy personnel not protected by personal protective equipment. The .22 LR caliber cartridge used gives a very quiet and accurate shot at short distances. “The accuracy of a shot with such a cartridge at 20-30 meters is simply amazing, and the low recoil allows you to make two or three very accurate shots in a row. When combined with a silencer, the sound of a shot can no longer be heard even from two steps away under normal background noise on a city street, and correctly selected ammunition can inflict quite serious injury on a criminal.” By the way, a shot from this weapon at a distance of up to 100 m affects not only people, but also service dogs.
2. Hidden defeat technical means enemy. True, not all technical means, but only those that are affected by such a weak cartridge as .22 LR. Lighting equipment, video cameras, alarm units, power distribution boxes, radio communications, car wheels... That is, in other words, a small-caliber sniper rifle with a silencer is an almost ideal means of preparing a springboard for assaulting those objects that are technically possible to approach within direct shot range from small caliber rifle(50−70 m.)
It must be said that when ordering the development of such a unique weapon as the “small sniper,” the Russian military was not a pioneer in this area. American special forces have been using small-caliber weapons of .22 LR caliber since such weapons were invented, since the end of the 19th century. And, apparently, they are not going to give it up just yet.
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