Russian Special Forces. Photo from Russian Military Photos
Russia's New Tip of the Spear -- Dmitri Trenin, Foreign Policy
What's got the Kremlin so worried that it created a Special Operations Command?
Addressing the Russian National Security Council meeting on May 8, President Vladimir Putin said that the forthcoming departure of U.S. and coalition forces from Afghanistan confronts Russia with a more precarious situation on its southern borders. Valery Gerasimov, Russia's chief of the General Staff since November 2012, who was also present at the meeting, had announced last month the formation of a Special Operations Command -- Russia's version of SOCOM. According to Gen. Gerasimov, the new command will include a special forces brigade, a training center, and helicopter and air transportation squadrons. These forces will be used exclusively outside Russian territory, including in U.N.-mandated operations. Creation of a separate SOCOM is not a new idea; it had been presented to Anatoly Serdyukov, who retired last fall as defense minister amid allegations of corruption in the Ministry of Defense (MOD), and who rejected it. The new minister, Sergei Shoigu, decided differently. What's behind this about face?
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My Comment: The Russians have always had special forces .... the difference now is that they are structuring it along the same lines that America's Special Forces are structured under. After-all .... a big war with nuclear weapons is not what Russian forces will soon be finding themselves fighting in .... it is the smaller conflicts in the Caucasus and in Central Asian states that they will be deployed to, and they will be battling against small but determined guerrilla movements.
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