Russia’s Elite Forces Are No Longer Elite
“Like turkeys at a shooting range”
They used to be the cream of the crop, but as Russia’s commandos are being devastated they look increasingly like sour milk.
Even Russian bloggers are complaining about the performance of these special forces. Russia’s elite brigades now face decimation and defeat at the hands of Ukraine. Few of them will be able to participate in withstanding the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Apparently, pride does come before the fall.
Shattered Spetsnaz
For its elite forces, Russia relies for the most part on its spetsnaz brigades. They’re basically commandos who serve with the intelligence services instead of in the army. They take on the riskiest and stealthiest of missions.
(The name comes from spetsialnogo naznacheniya, which means “special purpose”.)
The spetsnaz stem from the Russian Civil War. The communists set them up to deploy against anti-communist workers and farmers. Later, spetsnaz units fought in World War II, helped suppress the Prague Spring of 1968, served in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and — in the post-Soviet era — conducted operations in Tajikistan, Chechnya and Georgia.
