FSB Special Purpose Center. How to get into the FSB special forces. Practical advice. A healthy mind in a healthy body

23.06.2020

The FSB Special Purpose Center was established in 1998 to combat terrorism in Russia and abroad. Its structural units are the Alpha special unit, the Vympel special unit and the Special Operations Directorate.

The center accepts officers and ensigns, as well as cadets of military schools as candidates for officer positions. 97% of the positions in the FSB special forces are officers. Ensigns are given 3%, in case of admission to the CSN, they serve as drivers or instructors.

In addition, each candidate must provide a recommendation of either a current or former employee of Alfa or Vympel. The CSN is also engaged in an independent search for the most promising young people. Why do employees of the center visit the 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.

At the same time, 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 to them.

A healthy mind in a healthy body

Having accepted from the candidates the documents necessary for admission, they begin to check their physical fitness. Testing is carried out within one day. Everything is done in dynamics 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.

3 kilometers at the stadium must be run within 10 minutes 30 seconds.

After a 5-minute rest - 100 meters, the control standard - 12.7 seconds.

Pull-ups on the crossbar - 25 times. This is followed by a 3-minute rest after each exercise.

Within 2 minutes, it is necessary to do 90 flexions and extensions of the torso in the prone position.

90 push-ups from the floor.

After that, the candidate needs to perform a complex strength exercise 7 times:

15 push-ups from the floor;

15 flexion and extension of the torso in the prone position;

15 transitions from the “crouching emphasis” to “lying emphasis” and vice versa;

15 jumps from the "crouching" position.

40 seconds are given for each cycle. Rest between cycles is not provided.

Bench press of a barbell of its own weight (but not more than 100 kg) lying down - 10 times.

The main thing is to keep the beat and go forward

Three minutes after physical testing, it is necessary to demonstrate hand-to-hand martial arts skills. At the same time, the candidate speaks in a helmet, gloves and protective pads on the legs and in the groin. He is opposed by an instructor or an employee of the TsSN who is well trained in the field of hand-to-hand combat. The fight continues for 3 rounds.

In the allotted time, it is not at all required to defeat the instructor. During the fight, the instructor assesses the potential capabilities of the candidate: fighting qualities, ability to take a hit, the will to win, focus on attacking in conditions of physical fatigue, the ability to change combat tactics depending on the 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 higher the score he receives even in the case of significant errors in technique. Subsequently, during training, the recruit will learn all the techniques and skills necessary for 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 combat are immediately culled, going on the defensive.

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 state of health. And here the requirements are higher than for cadets of military universities, since the future special forces officer must endure enormous physical exertion. And they should not interfere with the effective implementation of combat missions. At the same time, one of the primary tasks that the medical board solves is to determine the suitability for airborne training.

In parallel with these studies, a special check is carried out, during which the presence of undesirable connections in the candidate is revealed. And not only with him, but also with 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 predilections, moral attitudes, reactions to certain stimuli and other characteristics that are important for service in the FSB special forces. All this information is entered into a personal file.

This is followed by verification on the polygraph of the veracity of the candidate. First of all, the moments that he would like to hide, the “dark spots” of his past and present are revealed: connections with crime, addiction to alcohol and drugs, corruption tendencies, antisocial lifestyle.

FSB DISCLAIMER

It’s amazing, but we still have to explain the obvious, in general, things: only two resources representing state security are “registered” on the Internet: these are the official websites of the Federal Security Service and the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC).

Yes, there are active groups and sites on the Web that cover the activities of special services, law enforcement agencies or talk about the activities of specific special forces. But these are public, voluntary and not official matters.

The military-patriotic newspaper "Special Forces of Russia", which has been published since the spring of 1994, stands apart here. But it is by no means the official publication of the FSB, but of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit (headed by a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, retired colonel Sergei Alekseevich Goncharov).

Another publication founded by spetsnaz veterans is the popular maroon beret magazine Bratishka, headed by Hero of Russia Sergei Lysyuk. However, a few years ago its publication was suspended.

That, in fact, is all.

But here is another matter. There is a group on Facebook that calls itself the "Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia." No more, no less. It is clear to anyone who is in the subject that these are stickies, however, the servers of this social network are located in the United States, which predetermined the choice of impostors "from the FSB".

At the same time, the “Pokemons” on the blue eye indicate their address: Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, house number 1 / 3, 2 / 3 and 3 / 3. The FSB reception phone is also there. And even modestly, without fanfare, the status of the Internet resource is marked: “state organization”.

It would seem that even more - you do not need to be a specialist to diagnose what you see on the Web. Moreover, the CSN itself is not deployed at Lubyanka, but in one of the districts of Moscow.

However, the People hides everything, doesn't it? And - hawala, hawah ...

And another stroke.

On the avatar of this "left" community is placed the emblem of the CSN with the characteristic letter "B", i.e. "Vympel". Well, we're really picking on that, aren't we? People believe, especially foreign subscribers - here they are, they say, secret fighters of the FSB and GRU special forces who decided to go online. And not by themselves, but by the whole combat structure of the Lubyanka.

However, the Lubyanka is tracking the sticky people.

And then (in fact, at the beginning of March 2017) a refutation appeared in the press, clear and concise: actions of Russian special forces during the liberation of Palmyra from terrorists.

The Special Purpose Center has nothing to do with this information, ”the FSB Public Relations Center told RIA Novosti.

Do you think the video was removed after this? Or was there a comment? Not at all.

So, dear readers, if you have friends who are members of this group, warn them what's what. And say that every like they have, every participation is work not just for sticky people, but work for the Enemy. Exactly. So that there are no illusions. You should not be mistaken.

THE PHENOMENON OF "ORLOV"

The world is going crazy hunting Pokémon with smartphones. For those who have not heard about this newfangled game, we explain. The map in the phone leads the player to the right place, the user rotates the camera and sees and catches funny cartoon animals against the background of the real situation.

The real situation, people and virtual characters controlled by extraneous will are mixed on the screen. The unknown owner of the game places the animals anywhere - in your apartment or at the dacha, at a secret facility, in a war zone, and the players point their phone cameras at the objects themselves - transferring the desired video to invisible hands.

Similarly, in social networks, we are dealing with "Pokemon" in the guise of fake heroes. It is not difficult for a Pokémon to disguise itself as a veteran of a large power structure, because current employees do not shine on social networks (strictly prohibited!), And veterans do not know newcomers. However, in the case of Alpha, this is difficult to imagine, since those who left the service still remain part of their native unit. Veterans are connected with him through a powerful public organization.

... A year ago, a character appeared on Facebook knocking on me and several of my friends at once. Photos of the character hinted that we were dealing with ... hmm, as if not a general, a “Hero of Russia”, related to the Alpha anti-terror unit and going on the social network under the nickname “Alexey Orlov”. By the beginning of the year, he had accumulated 2 thousand friends.

Then there was a personal correspondence. Orlov spoke little about who he was and where he came from, but he made it clear that he served in the GRU, then was in Alfa, and now he is a sniper instructor at the Special Forces Center of the FSB of Russia.

As a result, the first doubts about the reality of the character crept in, as it turned out, I was not the only one. After discussing with comrades, they found out that no one knows the newly appeared “friend”. Then they made inquiries at Directorate "A" of the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia and the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit. And we made sure that we have a virtual pokemon character that has never had anything to do with special forces and exists on Facebook, surrounded by other similar fictional “heroes”.

As it was possible to establish, his avatar is an old photograph of a real person - holder of the Order of Courage, reserve lieutenant colonel Ruslan Tsvetkov, who lives in Samara. He served in the Airborne Forces and the GRU special forces. Fought in the North Caucasus. It has nothing to do with Pokemon.

Began to refine the list of characters and their relationships, methods of work. The information was checked, and meanwhile the Pokémon were fed with fakes, humorously discussing the new exploits of the “elusive”, with which the ersatz heroes plentifully regaled their audience in private correspondence.

The promoted pokemon "Alexey Orlov" already had more than 3.5 thousand friends and one thousand subscribers on Facebook. Things were going uphill. Until all the “raspberries” were spoiled for him by the veterans of “Alpha” and the newspaper “Special Forces of Russia”. As a result of the high-profile exposure, Orlov's page was deleted. However, his accomplices remained, as well as the TsSN FSB of Russia group itself.

"I AM THE FIGHTER OF THE INVISIBLE FRONT"

Before ingloriously merging from the Web, the senior Pokémon Orlov at the end of October 2016 posted a simply heartbreaking post about his injury and being in the Burdenko military hospital.

Well, in VKontakte the people are savvy, such fables would not work here, but on Facebook the people, in general, are different. And a lot of foreigners. And a flurry of condolences rained down (including entries in English, Italian, etc.) to the wounded Internet fighter of the invisible front.

"Orlov" reported that "the bullet passed a few centimeters from the kidneys" (obviously, both at once!) And those "who wished him death can rejoice."

Then the stickman pressed on a tear: “I served in Group A for 8 unforgettable years, I left due to a wound. After being wounded, I recovered for a long time, and I was offered to continue my service in another unit of the army.

Well, this is strong, right!

Not a single officer of the special forces of state security will write like that by definition. "Spetsnaz Lubyanka" is one thing, the army is another! It's like "Our Father".

And then “Orlov” continued: “I created this page only for the sake of interest, I wanted to know how people relate to the army team (again, he is for his own!) and not only. Who closely followed my page (and there are many of them), I made posts about special forces, posted photos and showed Russia and Russians only from the good side. "Consumor aliis inserviendo" - shining on others, you burn yourself. I'm not going to make excuses, I just don't have the strength, and my head is full of painkillers. So excuse who I offended, I am a fighter of the invisible front and did not come here to promote myself, but to talk about my service in Group A.

... In short, it was a message in the spirit: “I am a poet, my name is Tsvetik. Hello from me to all of you!”

Readers of the "Special Forces of Russia" had a good laugh at the two photographs of the "injury" of the older Pokemon, and we quickly found out that no Orlov, of course, was admitted to the Burdenko military hospital. As no other patient with this kind of wounds did at all. A run designed for an absolutely inexperienced audience.

"Orlov" deleted the page, along with it another Pokémon from the special forces - "Aleksey Petrov", obviously looking for other guises, biographies and approaches to new persons of interest. Others in the Facebook group stayed and, after waiting, continued their activities (however, it is possible that these are the same persons under different surnames).

And the closer the presidential elections in Russia are, the more "fighters of the invisible front" will emerge from various cracks, which - which is by no means excluded! - will make stuffing and give comments on behalf of the Russian special services.

Forewarned is forearmed.

WHO NEED A NETWORK OF VIRTUAL HEROES?

What to do with this group of impostors, for what purposes do they work? Who are the faces on Facebook that the Pokémon Orlov calls his commanders, mentors, colleagues?

There are three options for which the network of virtual heroes is needed by the hosts of Pokémon.

The first is work for foreign intelligence. This is the most likely option, aimed at obtaining information about veterans and current employees, about the organization of Russian special forces, their combat and daily activities. How this is done - we will tell below.

But in addition to collecting information, the owners have extensive opportunities for manipulating real people and even for provocations. For example, a well-known Pokemon officer, not the first year on the Web, will suddenly tell his blogger friends in secret that he is fighting in some country, share another important insider. And now the correspondence with the special forces officer appears on the front pages of newspapers as proof of "Russia's treachery."

Further, even more fun - imagine that following such a revelation, the “veteran” disappears from the social network, and his friends “go on the run”, along the way spreading reports about how their own acting officer of the Mordor intelligence service was killed for the truth.

Of course, the FSB of Russia will expose the "whistleblowers", but the deed is done - these will be just unsubstantiated words of the special services against the words of "heroes", "fighters for the truth", well known to the Internet community. The new virtual traitor Alexander Litvinenko is straight (the one who fled to London and died from a dose of polonium)! And everything is ready for such a provocation. I wonder when, according to the scenario, the virtual Orlov should die? After all, the “assassination attempt” on him had already taken place.

The second option is pure scam. A publicly respected SWAT officer will one day be approached privately to resolve business or legal problems. He will ask for money for solving problems. And they will give him, maybe even a lot, without ever seeing the officer in the eye and not being able to find his traces later.

Or one day, a Pokémon officer will publicly ask for help in an operation due to an injury. Reposts, money flowing into fake accounts - with such authority and the number of fans of the character, its owners can earn a fortune in a week, while no one has time to understand what is happening and sound the alarm.

The third option is the game of scouts and special forces, the game of "lightning". It is possible that we are dealing with an attempt to realize in the virtual world our aspirations, aspirations and ambitions that have not been realized in life, however, the likelihood of this is small - there is a group acting professionally, harmoniously, purposefully. In addition, we are not aware of the existence of manuals on the Web, with which the actions of this group can be compared.

In general, as experience shows, social networks have become an ideal environment for breeding Pokemon. You can launch a fictional character in the guise of a special agent, the hero of all wars, and there will be those who will believe in him, and then they will make others believe. The photo of the Pokemon is someone else's, stolen or processed.

When communicating on behalf of the Pokemon, the owners hide their gaps in knowledge and experience, while not answering uncomfortable questions - the Pokemon is positioned as a secret person, and its work and personality are shrouded in mystery, about which - how could it be otherwise! - you can’t talk on social networks even with your own.

The only ones who could help figure out Pokemon breeders are the owners and moderators of social networks. But Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is based in the US with his servers. Please note that in the largest social network VKontakte, whose servers are located in Russia, the Pokemon group we are studying does not work, which once again suggests the professional actions of foreign intelligence services.

HOW TO BECOME OWN POKÉMON IN THE REAL WORLD?

First, the impostor must be "born". They come up with a name and a legend for him, make an avatar by processing a photo of another person. They create a profile on the social network and fill it with patriotic materials, photographs pulled from other people's pages.

Then they create a company of virtual characters just like him, also “heroes”, but only on a smaller scale. Pokémon repost each other's materials, communicate and interact in the feeds of other users - objects of interest, and ask to be friends with them. As a result, "followers" of the virtual sect appear, and with them live people, hands that fulfill someone else's will, requests, commands in the real world.

“Have you seen Orlov live?” - "No, but a man came from him, brought money for a sick boy." And the man, it turns out, didn’t see Orlov either, but he received a request from him to find money for a good cause, he fulfilled it, collected it, handed it over.

A real boy, real money, real help and… a virtual hero who laid another brick in the foundation of his own legalization with someone else's hands.

Or a girl, a living friend of the virtual hero Orlov. Having tagged along to the front line, she once took part in the civil war in the Donbass. Was wounded. She is for the truth, for freedom, actively posts materials on social networks, does not have a soul in the Internet idol ... And at the same time, she is not wiser with experience.

It is difficult to overestimate the degree of her involvement in the events in the Donbass, but once, as it was said, she received a real injury - she caught fragments as a result of an explosion. As a result, other real people, at the suggestion of Orlov, met a compatriot in Moscow, assigned her to expensive treatment, and provided her with money.

Pokémon makes women fall in love with him, arranges romantic meetings under public webcams, and then says that he urgently flew to the war, but sent his friend to the meeting place, who was too shy to approach his beloved.

There are other examples of how the virtual group we are studying acts with proxy in the real world. Sometimes he does good deeds. However, the purpose of these cases is not to help people, but to legalize a group of Pokémon.

HOW DO POKÉMON COLLECT INFORMATION?

Much of the above more or less corresponds to the techniques of the so-called "seeding" (in terms of Public Relations) used to promote goods and services by advertising agencies. In the case of the legalization of the Pokemon-hero, its owners have to go through a more difficult path, interact on the Web with real veterans of the special services.

A Pokémon can jump off an uncomfortable conversation, secrecy will write it off, but this is too easy and does not correspond to its goal of "becoming one". And here we see know-how, a technique that, by analogy with "sowing", we will call "cross-pollination".

“Have you worked in staff? Do you know where the documents go after the dismissal?

“Hi, is there a new boss in the N department, do you know?”

"Hi. What kind of nonsense they write, they say, Filatov (vice-president of the International Association "Alpha", editor-in-chief of the "Special Forces of Russia" - Auth.) and Sokolov (veteran of "Alpha" - Auth.) died in the Crimea? Not? Here I am about this ... And then they tell me that their photos were shown on TV. And who then died there?

Let's add that there are at least two people behind our main character. The one that started to spin the main Pokemon was smarter, better oriented in the environment. The second made many mistakes, caused a flurry of suspicions even among purely civilians. Apparently, a more expensive specialist was attracted for the period of legalization, and then, when the strategic task was solved, cheaper moderators and collectors of the invoice, which they swipe from wherever possible, joined in.

So, for example, the good guys from the "TsSN FSB of Russia" were repeatedly caught for stealing publications (without references, of course) from the "Special Forces of Russia", the most striking example is Alexei Filatov's essay entitled "Berserk", dedicated to the legendary " Alfovets" Viktor Ivanovich Blinov.

At the same time, by posting the publication on Blinov in two parts, they stupidly cut off both posts, because otherwise they would have to give links to the basic publication of the essay on the website of Spetsnaz Russia".

Personal correspondence with veterans is not all that the intelligence community does to gather information. Further more. Pokemon creates groups and pages on the social network, drags his friends and subscribers into them. Pages are created with obviously incorrect names or their spelling, but this does not bother visitors: “Spetsnaz grru rf (spn gr grsh vs rf)”, “Special Purpose Center of the FSB of Russia” and so on.

Everyone knows, but for some reason forgets that it is in the films that villains and scammers look and behave like villains and scammers, but in real life they are often pleasant and respectable people. In social networks, it is even easier for attackers - there is no need to look into the eyes of those whom you are deceiving. Their pages and groups contain beautiful, patriotic, often interesting and up-to-date information. How can one not believe in virtue?

And visitors believe the villains, ask questions on social networks to anonymous page and group administrators, believing that they are related to the relevant special services. The military personnel of the Ministry of Defense are interested in how to get into the service in the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia, the widows of the dead employees - how to get benefits, and the veterans of the units - help in finding a job.

In return, users abundantly share with the owners of the intelligence network information about their participation in hostilities, photographs from the scene of events, not only their own, but also friends, including those still serving in the military.

Conclusion: the work of the studied group on Facebook bears little resemblance to pranks and petty fraud. Rather - on the operation of the special services, is not it?

WHAT TO DO?

We have what we have. We are not going to refuse to communicate in social networks, and this intelligence community is not the first and not the last that every user has to deal with on the Internet every day. Let's take at least some precautions.

First. Check your social media friends, find and remove those you don't know yourself or your real friends don't know in the real world. You will not only save yourself from unnecessary contacts, but also save your friends from the troubles, in front of whom scammers will hide behind "friendship" with you.

Second. Never add as a friend someone you doubt exists. And don't be put off by pretty faces on avatars, fiery texts, or the fact that these characters are already friends with those who enjoy your respect.

And fourth. Send someone you know in the real world a link to this material, repost it. For those who want to protect themselves from manipulation, to learn more about fraud technologies similar to those practiced by the Orlova Pokemon group, we recommend reading the book by Kevin Mitnick (an iconic figure in the field of information security) "The Art of Deception" - very informative.

If in life you, dear readers, have come across some people who position themselves as veterans of the FSB special forces, or firms operating under the brands of legendary units, then this issue is easily resolved.

If it is claimed that a person served in Group A of the KGB-FSB, then the necessary information will be prompted to you by the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit, which has accumulated rich experience in exposing sticky people and impostors for a quarter of a century.

They talk about Vympel - contact the Association of Veterans and Employees of the Vympel Special Purpose Group (headed by Valery Popov), and they will explain whether it is true or not.

The Fund for Veterans of the Smerch Special Operations Unit of the State Security Bodies can also clarify its profile.

So do not allow yourself to be a weapon in the hands of impostors acting on behalf of the special services, because you create a much-needed extras for them to carry out the activities mentioned above.

In the conditions of the Cold War, when the Internet and the press became a weapon of mass disinformation and conducting active information events, working, albeit passively, for the enemy is infantilism and an unaffordable luxury that diverts people's attention to unusable objects.

The author is a reserve lieutenant colonel, a veteran of Directorate "A" of the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia. Participant of special operations on Dubrovka ("Nord-Ost") and in Beslan. Deputy Head of the Kolomna Municipal District of the Moscow Region

The newspaper "SPETSNAZ RUSSIA" and the magazine "SCOUT"

The center is part of the structure of the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism.

The leader is Lieutenant General Alexander Tikhonov, before him - Major General Valery Andreev.
Structure:
- Management "A"
- Management "B"
- Directorate (formerly Service) of Special Operations (MTR)

The base of the Special Purpose Center is located in the city of Balashikha-2, military unit No. 35690. Contact phones: 523-63-43, 523-90-60. The training center of the "Alfa" group has been called "Surf" for twenty-five years. ().

Below is a summary of 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 person, a man who went from ensign to general in group A, who went through Afghanistan and Chechnya. One of the last operations By the way, after the capture of Raduev, the colonel of the headquarters, who was the first to report to Moscow on the successful completion of the operation, received the star of the Hero of Russia, and M., the person who personally carried out the capture, was awarded a medal.

Many of our military officers, whose contract ends 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 CSN, they began to take us according to the limit.

To this end, a third hostel is already being built on the basis of the center in B. After the signing of the contract, the soldiers are awarded the rank of ensign and are first temporarily and then permanently registered in Moscow. For guys from the provinces, this is the ultimate dream. For our leadership, such people are very convenient, they look the authorities in the mouth and carry out the most ridiculous, illiterate orders.

From a letter that came to Y. Shchekochikhin in Novaya Gazeta from the fighters of group "A" (TsSN) (July 2003):

- "At the headquarters of the Central Security Service of the FSB, led by General Tikhonov, there is a legendary person in the center - Colonel S. By profession, this gentleman is the main sniper of the center. On 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 - about five cars and several motorcycles of the best Japanese firms. Calculate how much only 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 to he had questions, but thanks to the patronage of higher powers in the leadership of the FSB, all problems were solved.

Now - about one of the sponsors of the TsSN FSB. Once upon a time, a modest officer Eduard Bendersky served in the center. He retired with the rank of 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, has both a special ticket and a cover certificate. Almost all banquets, concerts, 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 CSN. He prefers to bathe in the company of the center's leadership.

Now - more sore.
Taking advantage of the fact that we are a secret department, all appointments to senior positions are made in secret from everyone, including us.

Recently, Colonel V. was appointed commander of the Alpha group. Alpha is a combat unit, one hundred percent of our personnel went through Chechnya, many went through Afghanistan, participated in military operations, and our commander was a man who spent his whole life in various positions in the department personnel, - a professional clerk. His last position was the head of the personnel department of the TsSN. This is a person who does not have not only the experience of military operations - even the simple experience of operational work.

And this is the second commander imposed on us from outside. His predecessor was also a personnel officer. He came to us as a colonel, got 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 really competent combat officers from the bodies. Mostly opportunists remain, looking the authorities in the mouth.

Office "A" TsSN FSB of Russia (Group "Alpha")

Head - Major General Vladimir Vinokurov, assistant - participant in the liquidation of the terrorist act on Dubrovka, captain 1st rank - O. Pilshchikov ()

It was 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 personally subordinate to the 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 recruited mainly from employees of the KGB of the USSR who had undergone special training and were fit for health reasons to serve in the Airborne Forces.

The intended purpose of group "A" is the fight against terrorism and other "extremist" actions that are associated with the seizure of hostages, vehicles, state facilities on the territory of the USSR and abroad.

By the time of the collapse of the USSR, there were about 500 officers. (Departments in Kyiv, Minsk, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Alma-Ata). At the moment, in Moscow, apart from three regional divisions (Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk), about 250 people serve.

After the collapse of the USSR, group "A" was part of the Main Security Directorate (GUO) of the Russian Federation. Among other tasks, "A" until 1993 provided protection 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 Alfa group was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Main Directorate of Defense of the Russian Federation to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

In 1998, Putin, when he was director of the FSB, remembered Alfa. He issued an order to "reorganize departments" A "and" B ". According to him, "in order to reduce duplicating structures" in "Alpha" and "Vympel", headquarters and management were disbanded, and at the same time support units - snipers, explosives, communications. alone, the combat groups were reduced to the "anti-terrorist center" Savostyanov's brainchild, renamed the Department for Combating Terrorism.At the same time, there were reports 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 did not have the funds for the maintenance of highly qualified specialists in the fight against terrorism.

Leaders:

From 1974 to 1978, the leader of the group was Colonel Vitaly Bubenin, Hero of the Soviet Union (for Damansky Island). (From the border guards. In 1978 he returned to the PV)
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 - employees "A" participate in the storming of the Presidential Palace of the President of Afghanistan, Hafizullah Amin. In three columns, on armored personnel carriers, the attackers broke through to the palace along the shelled road. The attackers then 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 captured twenty-five students.
02.031982 - neutralization gr. Ushakov on the territory of the US Embassy, armed with an improvised explosive device
November 18-19, 1983 - the capture of the Tu-134 aircraft in Tbilisi.
09/20/1988 - the release of the passengers of the Tu-134 aircraft, captured by the military personnel of the internal troops
1988 - a group of Yakshyants seizes a bus with schoolchildren in the city of Mineralnye Vody. Group "A" is conducting 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 the hostages captured in the pre-trial 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 Sergei Goncharov, former deputy head of "A", Shatskikh was shot in the back "from the crowd".
August 1991 - during the coup d'état, an unofficial meeting of Alpha fighters was held, at which they decided not to participate in the storming of the RSFSR parliament. Major-General Viktor Karpukhin, the commander of Group A, refuted versions about 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 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" arrived at the 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 database and ensure their safety. He also stated that "it is not their job to deal with the political aspects of what is happening." During the assault, employee "A" Gennady Sergeev, who was carrying the wounded out of the building, died. According to the Alpha fighters, the bullet that hit the Alpha soldier between the helmet and body armor was fired from the opposite building from 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 assault on the hospital building, officers "A" officers Dmitry Burdyaev, Dmitry Ryabinkin and Vladimir Solovov were killed, fifteen Alpha fighters were injured. 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 occurred in the situation, peace negotiations became possible" ("MN", N44, June 25 - July 2, 1995). According to Gusev, the enemy lost approx. 20 people killed.
September 20, 1995 - an operation to free hostages taken on a bus. The terrorists demanded a helicopter to Makhachkala.
October 1995 - fighters of group "A" neutralized a terrorist who seized a bus with passengers on Vasilyevsky Spusk in Moscow. During the assault, the terrorist was killed.

The Association of Veterans of the group is headed by the former deputy commander of the group, 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 dead guys and celebrate Memorial Day. The unit suffered the biggest losses in Budennovsk and Kizlyar. Five officers died there."

Management "B" (former "Vympel")

The most famous power unit of the foreign intelligence of the KGB of the USSR was the Vympel group. Created on August 19, 1981 for special operations, the Vympel group was part of Directorate C (illegal intelligence) of the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB of the USSR. In organizational terms, "Vympel" was divided into departments (in combat conditions - groups) of 10 to 20 people.

The predecessors of the "Vympel" were the "Zenith" and "Cascade" detachments. The official name is "Separate training center of the KGB of the USSR". Over the 20 years (turning this year) of the history of the Vympel unit, the Vympel fighters carried out special operations outside the USSR (Afghanistan) and gained 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 the palace of Amin) Kozlov Evald Grigorievich. The Vympel consisted of about a thousand people. The fighter knew at least one foreign language, especially the country where he had to work.

The Vympel fighters mastered light diving training in the 17th brigade of the Special Forces in the city of Ochakov, learned shooting from Nicaraguan instructors, and underwent training in Cuba. They comprehended mountain training, trained in flights on SLLA (ultralight aircraft) and many other things they knew how. According to Yu.I. Drozdov, earlier the training of one Vympel fighter cost 100,000 rubles a year. It took up to five years to prepare. "Vympel" 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, was given in 1981. Now it is the territory of the FSO.

The preparation of the first groups was completed by the beginning of 1982. And Vympel received its baptism of fire in Afghanistan.

According to the deputy head of the Department for Combating Terrorism, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Kozlov (former Vympel), at that time the work of the unit was carried out in three areas: operational (obtaining intelligence information), operational-combat (implementation of the received intelligence information and training of special forces from the military personnel of the Afghan army for joint participation in combat operations) and conducting "operational games" with the aim of pushing the leaders of the enemy's armed formations against each other.

In peacetime, the unit was used to find weaknesses in the protection of strategic facilities. Saboteurs were sent to nuclear power plants and military plants in order to "seize objects and carry out sabotage." At the same time, the protection of the facilities was notified in advance about "the possible penetration of saboteurs with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks." Some of the fighters were specially "lit up" so that the rest would carry out the task in the absence of members of the group or some parts of the operation.

But nevertheless, without exception, the Vympelovtsy performed all the tasks on "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 a railway missile system with nuclear warheads near one of the largest Russian cities.

When performing all these operations, the pennants imitated the laying of explosive charges in the most vulnerable places of the "attacked" objects. With the beginning of the collapse of the USSR, Vympel began to be used on its territory. The fighters visited all the hot spots of the former Soviet Union: Baku, Yerevan, Nakhichevan, Karabakh, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Chechnya, Moscow.

In 1991, after the coup, "Vympel" came under the control of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation. Since May 1991, the group was headed by Boris Petrovich Beskov (in the KGB system from the age of 12 - from the moment he was enrolled in the Suvorov School under the Ministry of State Security of the USSR in 1952, he served in the 9th Directorate of the KGB, in the First Main Directorate, worked abroad. He fought in Afghanistan, in the "Cascade" group, has military awards).

In 1993, the group ended up as part of the Presidential Security Service. "Vympel" was reoriented to new tasks: the liberation of nuclear facilities from terrorists, the fight against drug trafficking, armed criminal groups or illegal armed formations. Vympelovtsy had to work out options for various operations to free Russian nuclear power plants, ships with nuclear power plants and centers for the production of nuclear weapons from terrorists.

In July 1993, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Sibir, conditionally captured by terrorists, was attacked by a team of 25 people from three directions simultaneously: from land, from under water and from the air. Already seven minutes after the start of the operation, the command was reported on 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 Alfa, refused to storm the 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" was named "Vega". Fifty out of several hundred people agreed to wear police epaulettes. 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 commandos refused, they decided that they could find a use for themselves here too. Some went to the foreign intelligence service, helped to take our people out of the 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, Vympel's legal successor is Directorate V 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 at the White House in 1993, a sniper killed Gennady Sergeev, an Alpha fighter who had previously served in Vympel. The last victim - Andrey 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. two were lost in this Chechen campaign."

At present, the main part of the Vympel group, according to its former head Anatoly Isaikin, is made up of people from counterintelligence who were previously engaged in intelligence. All of them are well prepared, but each has a specialization. On average, the training of an anti-terrorist group fighter takes five years. Vladimir Kozlov also noted that the salaries of employees of the special unit are higher than those of ordinary FSB officers - six thousand rubles plus bonuses for special operations.

In the summer of 1996, the FSB anti-terrorist center (ATC FSB) was created by presidential decree. The creation of this center was one of the first steps taken by Mikhail Barsukov after his appointment as director of the FSB. Viktor Zorin, First Deputy Director of the FSB, was appointed head of the Center.

Formally, the need for its creation was caused by the extreme lack of coordination of domestic anti-terrorist services, which was especially clearly manifested during the operation in Budennovsk in June 1995.

"Vremya MN" 01/23/01: "The Department for Combating Terrorism includes the Special Purpose Center, consisting of the Alpha and Vympel detachments (former foreign intelligence special forces). The daily work of the Alpha detachment is to neutralize terrorists who capture air and water vessels, land transport, as well as those holding hostages in buildings.Vympel employees have a "nuclear" specialization: in peacetime - neutralization of terrorists at nuclear facilities, in pre-war and wartime their task is reversed - they must destroy nuclear power plants , missile launchers with nuclear warheads and other special facilities on enemy territory. However, this specificity is not taken into account in the current conditions, Vympel fighters are capable of operating in Chechnya."

The selection system for anti-terror special forces is carried out in several stages. For service in the special forces of the Special Purpose Center of the FSB, as a rule, officers and ensigns, as well as cadets of military schools, are selected as candidates for officer positions. Physical testing is divided into two stages, which take place on the same day. During the first, candidates pass physical fitness standards, followed by hand-to-hand combat sparring.

Training can be done at the Budokan sports club, the programs provide for general physical training, sports training in aikido, karate.

In the ring, the candidate is required to be active, passive defense is not welcome. It is very difficult to do this, given the loads that the candidate has overcome during the physical tests. Against him comes a completely fresh employee. Here, first of all, fighting qualities, the ability to attack, the ability to take a hit and, of course, the will are tested. There were cases when aikido masters did not stand in the ring, and guys who did not have any serious sports titles, on the contrary, stubbornly attacked and rushed at the enemy.

There is an unspoken rule in the Center that after being enrolled in special forces, an employee must serve in it for at least five years. This is exactly the period that is necessary for the preparation of a classy "action movie" of anti-terror. The vast majority continue to serve further.