Alpha Special Purpose Center. Special forces of the armies of the world

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"
- Management (formerly Service) 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 the losses, problems and combat path of 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 TsSN, Lieutenant General A.M., was forced to retire from the center - 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 groups, he owns his own car service center and restaurant in the center of Moscow. At some point, the prosecutor's office had him questions, 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.”

Directorate "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.

The purpose of group "A" is 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). At the moment, about 250 people serve in Moscow, not counting three regional divisions (Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk).

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, the combat groups were consolidated into an “anti-terrorist center”, the brainchild of Savostyanov, renamed the department for combating terrorism. At the same time, reports emerged 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 because the state did not have funds for the maintenance of highly qualified specialists in the fight against terrorism.

Leaders:

From 1974 to 1978, the leader of the group was Hero of the 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 training center of the KGB of the USSR.” Over the 20 years (completion of 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 Vympelovka), at that time the unit’s work was carried out in three directions: operational (obtaining intelligence information), operational-combat (implementation of the received intelligence information and training of special forces from the 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 the tasks without exception were completed by the Vympelov team with a “5”. They managed to penetrate the Arzamas-16 nuclear facility, 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.

October 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of one of the most combative units in the fight against terrorism - the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia. He is responsible for the neutralization of such iconic figures of the “dollar jihad” as Salman Raduev, Arbi Baraev, Abu Umar, Abu-Havs, Shamil Basayev, Aslan Maskhadov.

Mobile "fist"
BEFORE THE SECOND STARTS Chechen war There was less than a year left when, on October 8, 1998, on the initiative of the then FSB director Vladimir Putin, a decision was made to create a mobile “fist” in order to strengthen the FSB’s power bloc. Subsequent events in the country and the world fully confirmed the correctness and, most importantly, timeliness of the decision made.
The center was formed on the basis of two combat directorates - “A” and “B”, or “Alpha” and “Vympel”. IN short term All the necessary structures were formed - headquarters, personnel department, secretariat, financial and economic department, security department and support service.
The specialty of Alpha employees, as before, is the neutralization of terrorists who hijack aircraft, watercraft, ground transport, and also hold hostages in buildings. Vympel employees have a slightly different task - neutralizing terrorists at nuclear and strategically important industrial facilities. After ten years, the Center emphasizes, each of the two departments managed to preserve its own style and established traditions within a single structure. This is especially true for Alpha, where there was no painful generation gap, unlike Vympel, which was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the events of October 1993.
On July 16, 1999, shortly before the invasion of Dagestan by the gangs of Khattab and Sh. Basayev, by order of the director of the FSB, the Special Operations Service was created, which structurally became part of the TsSN. Its main purpose is to work on illegal armed groups, crime bosses, arms dealers and drug lords.
The head of the Special Purpose Center is Hero of Russia, Colonel General Alexander Evgenievich Tikhonov, appointed to this position by Decree of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin October 22, 1998.
For ten years, the TsSN employees have had the difficult task of combating international terrorism in the North Caucasus and beyond. Working on a rotational basis, from business trip to business trip, almost all of its personnel went through North Caucasian “universities”. Similarly, employees of Group “A”, by order of KGB Chairman V.M. Chebrikov was put through the crucible of Afghanistan in 1983–1987. True, back then it was called “combat training.”
The first operation in which the Center’s employees participated was to repel the aggression of the “Mujahideen” gangs that invaded Dagestan in the summer of 1999 from the territory of Ichkeria. Vympel fighters operated in Botlikh and other places, setting up sniper ambushes and inflicting fire damage militants. Well, then the second Chechen campaign began for the entire Center.
In addition, the FSB special forces have protected top officials on the territory of the Chechen Republic, as well as dozens of successfully carried out operations against bandit formations and specific field commanders of the “Chechen jihad”. Among them is the delicate detention of Salman Raduev, the leader of the “army of General Dudayev”, carried out by the combined operational-combat TsSN group in the village of Novogroznensky in 2000, and the liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov in March 2005 in the regional center of Tolstoy-Yurt.
Outside Chechnya, a real classic was the “sniper assault” of the intercity regular bus “Ikarus”, carried out in the summer of 2001 at the airport Mineralnye Vody Alpha employees. The terrorist was killed and none of the hostages were injured.
Shortly before this, in September 2000, a successful special operation was carried out in the village of Lazarevskoye Krasnodar region, where armed bandits took hostage the builders of a private hotel. They threw grenades at the yard in front of the building and demanded a large sum of money and an airplane. The situation was resolved without the use of force thanks to the skill of the TsSN negotiators. As a result, the terrorists freed the hostages and surrendered. The operation was led by the head of the Center, Colonel General Tikhonov.
The events at the Theater Complex on Dubrovka became the highest test of strength, professionalism and fortitude. Thanks to the actions of the Alpha and Vympel fighters, who walked along the razor’s edge, the hostages were freed and the terrorists were eliminated.
The day after the release of the Nord-Ost hostages, employees of Alpha and Vympel were invited to the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin. The case is unprecedented: Yeltsin never - even during the crisis days of August 1991 and October 1993 - received ordinary special forces soldiers in his apartments. Gorbachev did not favor them either. Previous leaders preferred to communicate only with generals. The Center's fighters arrived to the president in full force in suits and ties.
No one at that moment could, naturally, imagine that no less dramatic events awaited the FSB special forces and the country as a whole - the seizure of school No. 1 in the city of Beslan, carried out on the orders of Maskhadov and Sh. Basayev. And the self-sacrifice of fighters with the letters “A” and “B”.
Currently, the Special Forces Center, located in the south-west of Moscow (the Priboi facility) and the town of Balashikha near Moscow, consists of four combat structures. In addition to Directorates “A” and “B” and the Special Operations Service, a division was created with permanent place deployments in the North Caucasus. He carries out his operational and combat work in close cooperation with the FSB Aviation Directorate. A special article is the contribution of the Center’s doctors, whose skillful and courageous hands saved many lives and destinies.
Over ten years, the Center’s employees have carried out over 2,500 military operations to free hostages, neutralize the leaders of gangs, suppress channels of illegal sales of weapons and drugs, and protect the country’s leadership. Sixteen officers and warrant officers were awarded the title of Hero of Russia (eight of them posthumously), and they were awarded orders and medals more than 1,500 times.

Basic principles
There are a lot of people who want to join 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 of the 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.
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.
The training of FSB officers is based on a fusion of martial arts elements selected by practice. It includes hand-to-hand combat, boxing, sambo, judo and some elements of karate. The Center's instructors closely monitor modern tendencies development and creatively use those of them that can provide the greatest effectiveness in operational combat work. In approximately half of the operations carried out by the Center’s staff, success was achieved precisely thanks to mastery of the techniques hand-to-hand combat.
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. In 2006 and 2007, the Center's employees won and became prize-winners of the World and European Championships in sniper rifle shooting.
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, a mentoring institute, various training camps, classes and receiving good operational training in training centers and FSB institutions. 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.
Psychological preparation plays a decisive role when performing combat missions. During the Open Championship of the FSB of Russia in hand-to-hand combat, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the TsSN, the head of the TsSN, Hero of Russia, Colonel General Alexander Tikhonov emphasized in an interview with the press: “Issues of psychology come first, even compared to issues of weapons and equipment. Psychological readiness"For a special forces officer to operate effectively in an environment that is constantly evolving and unpredictable is critical to the successful completion of the assigned mission."
“Over the years, it has been carried out a large number of special operations, including the release of hostages. Among them are well-known and little-known operations in which officers were trained and where the Center gained its power. The most important thing is that all these years we have been improving the tactics of conducting special operations, raising the level of professionalism, including psychological preparation employees,” noted the head of the Center.
At Priboi and Balashikha, criteria for the combat readiness of both the Center as a whole and each unit separately were developed. They consist in staffing levels, availability required quantity weapons, equipment, communications, high professional training of employees and coherence of units, a healthy moral and psychological climate in teams, well-functioning sustainable management, high mobility.

Combined assault
DURING major sporting competitions, militants from one of the international terrorist organizations seized the team and made unacceptable demands, threatening to exterminate the hostages. At the same time, a second group of terrorists took hostage passengers on a city bus in order to divert forces and resources. law enforcement.
To accomplish the task, the FSB Special Purpose Center involved parachutists, high-altitude specialists, sniper units, engineering and other units, as well as armored vehicles and two Mi-8 helicopters of the FSB Aviation Directorate. The FSB leadership decided to storm an apartment on the fifth floor of a twelve-story building where the terrorists were holding hostages.
This was the legend for the demonstration performances of the FSB special forces before the participants and guests of the VII International meeting of heads of intelligence services, security agencies and law enforcement agencies on the fight against terrorism, as well as three international organizations: Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council, Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure Shanghai organization cooperation and the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center. The meeting took place at the end of March 2008 in the capital of Ugra - the city of Khanty-Mansiysk. There really was something to see: it’s one thing to read the meager lines of newspaper reports about the release of hostages, and quite another to see with your own eyes how special forces operate in real conditions. And the conditions were as close as possible to combat conditions.
Paratroopers of the first group jumped from a Mi-8 helicopter from a height of one and a half kilometers onto the roof of a 12-story residential building and ensured the landing of the main assault group from the second helicopter hovering above the roof of the building. Spectators could watch how fighters with controlled parachutes approached the target and how difficult the jump itself and the landing accuracy were due to the strong gusty wind. In addition, the roof of the building had a large number of projections, which left the paratroopers with only two small landing areas.
At the same time, the second group descended directly to the roof using a rope ladder from the second Mi-8 helicopter. Representatives of the intelligence services of 54 states were shown the capabilities of high-altitude special forces, who moved along the walls to the lower floors. Such a spectacular element as a “living staircase” was also demonstrated: the special forces, having formed a human chain, climbed to the height of the fifth floor.
After the command “Storm!” At the same time, a combined assault on the captured apartment began from all sides. The windows in it were broken by targeted explosions and flew out along with the frames. As they later explained, no iron grille could withstand such explosions. As a result, in a matter of seconds the terrorists were destroyed and the hostages were freed. At the same time, at the other end of the city, an operation was carried out to free the passengers of the regular bus. It was unexpectedly blocked by armored vehicles, and masked soldiers poured out of the truck that appeared. A few moments - and this part of the terrorists shared the fate of their accomplices.

Night fight
ONE of the operations carried out by the Center shortly before its tenth anniversary, unlike many other events, ended up in the central press. On the night of Wednesday, September 17, 2008, in the foothill Suleiman-Stalsky region of Dagestan, Zakir Novruzov’s gang was ambushed by TsSN employees. The terrorists traveled in a Gazelle minibus. FSB special forces soldiers took up positions on the highway near the village of Tsmur. As a result of the clash, the leader and ten bandits were killed. An employee of the Center’s branch from Dagestan was mortally wounded...
The hunt for Zakir Novruzov's group lasted for ten days. Since then, in the Magaramkent region of the republic, several gang leaders belonging to the Yuzhnaya group were ambushed by security officers. Among them is commander Ilgar Mollachiev, who has also held the title of Amir of Dagestan since October 2007. (He replaced field commander Rappani Khalilov in this post, who was killed in September last year.) Shamil Basayev awarded him the highest order of Ichkeria for the destruction of anti-tank guided projectile helicopter in Botlikh. Then Hero of Russia pilot Yuri Naumov died.
Despite being introduced in several populated areas In the Tabasaran and Derbent regions, a counter-terrorism operation was in effect; some of the militants subordinate to Emir Mollachiev hid in the local forests. However, the militants, driven into a corner, had less and less room for maneuver.
On September 16, operatives received information that Novruzov’s group and the militants from Emirbek Ragimkhanov’s group who had joined him (he was killed in the city of Derbent along with Mollachiev) were going to change their location. At about one o'clock in the morning, at the junction of the borders of the Suleiman-Stal and Khiva regions of the republic, a Gazelle with militants was shot down by a grenade launcher. The remaining terrorists dispersed, firing back with machine guns. The battle lasted about an hour and a half.
When almost none of the passengers of the Gazelle were left alive, the wounded driver attracted the attention of the special forces by shouting - allegedly he was a hostage of the militants. However, when two fighters approached him and tried to find out who he was, he fired at them. One of the FSB officers was wounded in the chest, from which he died in the hospital, another was slightly wounded. The “sword of Allah” was destroyed by return fire.
Not only was it confiscated from the battle site weapon, ammunition (the passengers of the Gazelle had seven machine guns), a solid supply of food and religious literature, but also several improvised explosive devices. The plans of the militants, according to operational information, included the seizure of one of the rural secondary schools in the Suleiman-Stal district.
Since the establishment of the Center, 32 people have suffered irreparable losses. In Directorate “A”, if we take the ten years of the TsSN’s existence, nine employees died, one died suddenly on combat duty. Colleagues from departments “B” and “C” have their own mournful martyrology.

FROM THE DOSSIER. On July 9, 2007, at the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia, Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna performed the rite of great consecration of the temple in the name of the Great Martyr George the Victorious. The temple was built on the initiative of veterans of special services in memory of employees who died heroically while performing service and combat missions. The names of the fallen soldiers are placed on marble plaques located in the side naves of the temple. For assistance in the construction of the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' awarded the Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy II degree to the head of the Special Forces Center of the Hero of Russia, Colonel General Alexander Tikhonov and member of the Federation Council Rustem Shiyanov. Members of the Center's leadership and benefactors were awarded high church awards.

Pavel EVDOKIMOV
Photo from the TsSN archive

The Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia is a special unit that deals only with the fight against terrorism. This post will introduce us in more detail to the work of this unit.

First, briefly about the FSB Special Purpose Center. This is a division of the Federal Security Service 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 the fight against international terrorism on the territory of the Russian Federation and beyond, which includes 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 years of its existence, employees of the TsSN FSB of Russia, independently or in collaboration 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, several hundred officers died in combat operations in the country and abroad, more than two thousand were awarded state awards, twenty military personnel were awarded honorary title"Hero of the Russian Federation".

Currently Federal Service Security 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 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB Border Service and the Ryazan School Airborne Forces 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 clearly 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.

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 is a unit of the Federal Security Service of the 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 the fight against 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 collaboration with various units, carried out many operational combat activities, during which a significant amount of weapons, ammunition, and explosives were confiscated, hundreds of hostages captured by militants were freed, active members of gangs were neutralized, including such odious leaders such as Salman Raduev, Arbi Barayev, Aslan Maskhadov, Rappani Khalilov, Anzor Astemirov, emissaries of the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda in the North Caucasus Abu-Umar, Abu-Havs, 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, state awards were awarded more than two thousand times, twenty military personnel were awarded the honorary title “Hero of the Russian Federation.”

Currently, the Federal Security Service is headed by Army General Alexander Vasilyevich Bortnikov.

The FSB Special Purpose Center 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 of 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. And also the 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 perform a complex strength exercise 7 times:

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 a CSN employee well trained in hand-to-hand combat. 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.

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