Troop show: The internal troops of Russia

As in many other European countries, there are also a number of "special units" in Russia (Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya = Specnaz or Spetsnaz), which are subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del = MVD). SPARTANAT provides you with a brief overview of them today.

Within the MVD, there are the internal troops (Vnutrenniye VVoiska = VV), which have 25 Spetsnaz units. The two best known were Vityaz and Rus. Others are named Rosnic, Ratnik, or Skif. Officially, the units are called OSN, which is why their members are also referred to as OSNAZ (Osobogo Naznacheniya).

The two aforementioned Vityaz and Rus (former 6th and 8th OSN VV) were merged in 2008 into the 604th Red Banner Center for Special Tasks and directly subordinated to the Special Command ODON (Independent Order of Lenin and the October Revolution Red Banner Division for Special Tasks of the Internal Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs).

Similar to the US Rangers, the 604th Red Banner Center for Special Tasks is also used to support Russian Tier 1 forces. These - Alpha and Vympel - are, however, not under the Ministry of Internal Affairs but under the FSB (former KGB).

Another unit subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) is the OMON (Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya) of the police. However, they are usually not counted as Spetsnaz, as their tasks are more in the realm of policing. Nevertheless, OMON troops were used in the conflicts in Chechnya.

For completeness, we would like to mention the OMSN (Otryad Militsii Spetsial'nogo Naznacheniya), known by their former name SOBR (Spetsial'nye Otryady Bystrogo Reagirovaniya). This unit is subordinate to local criminal investigation departments and is used to combat organized crime, although allegedly there has been increased anti-terror training in recent times.