Police special forces in the Caucasus (26 photos). Police special forces in the Caucasus (26 photos) GRU special forces operations in the second Chechen war

The first Chechen war in 1994, which could have been the beginning of a new stage in the construction of Russia, ended on a tragic note. An attempt to restore order in Chechnya led to a bloody war. But why did such an experienced politician as Yeltsin suddenly get involved in the Chechen war? Sergei

In Chechnya, two GRU special forces battalions are being disbanded - “East” and “West”. Against the backdrop of recent all-Russian practice, the event is at first glance ordinary: it’s no secret that the Russian army is facing a reduction. But there is one unpleasant little touch: these GRU units were the only armed formations in Chechnya that were directly subordinate to the Moscow authorities, and not to the president of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. They say that everything is as planned: the battalions, they say, were disbanded in order to further strengthen Kadyrov’s power. Is this so and what could this decision lead to, the correspondent of “Our Version” found out.

To understand the meaning of what is happening with the “West” and “East” and assess the possible consequences, let’s first say a few words about what these divisions are. “Vostok” is a battalion of the 291st motorized rifle regiment of the 42nd Guards motorized rifle division of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It was formed five years ago from militants from the Gudermes group of the Yamadayev brothers, who were part of the 2nd battalion of the National Guard of self-proclaimed Ichkeria, but later went over to the side of the federal forces. The personnel are Chechens, as is commonly believed, loyal to Moscow. The battalion is part of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense, reporting directly to the head of the General Staff of the Russian Army. Until May of this year, the battalion commander was Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadayev.

“West” is a much more serious structure. It was formed, like Vostok, in 2003, but not from the National Guard “freedom” of yesterday’s separatists, but on the basis of the 305th Separate Special Purpose Detachment of the GRU. Only those who had not stained themselves in any way by collaborating with Dudayev and Maskhadov served in this unit. The “West” was headed by Said-Magomed Kakiev, a truly legendary personality: Hero of Russia, holder of two Orders of Courage, Kakiev spoke out against the separatist policy of Dzhokhar Dudayev back in 1992 and was one of the organizers of the armed anti-Dudaev resistance. In 1993, he personally participated in the assassination attempt on Dudayev and lost his left arm and eye.

A year later, having undergone a course of treatment in Moscow, he stormed Grozny, his detachment captured the republican television center and lost almost all its personnel during the assault - 80 people. Aslan Maskhadov offered a reward of 200 thousand dollars for Kakiyev’s head. Kakiev participated in the defense of Grozny in 1996 and in the second Chechen campaign that began in 1999. I remember Kakiyev’s words at the ceremony of awarding the Gold Star of the Hero of Russia: “I swear by Allah, I and my soldiers are ready to die for Russia!” Note: for Russia, not for Chechnya. Which, in general, most strikingly distinguished the fighters of the “West” and “East”.

So, Ramzan Kadyrov, who gradually cleared the entire republican perimeter of federal armed structures, was left alone with only these two GRU units, which theoretically could pose a danger to his sole power. Moreover, the disciplined and well-managed “West” seemed to Ramzan Kadyrov much more dangerous than the anarchic “East”; That’s what they dealt with first, and in a Jesuitical way.

Kakiyev was “promoted” to the position of Deputy Military Commissioner of Chechnya for military-patriotic education of youth. And he was forced to obey. Kakiyev handed over command to his deputy Bislan Elimkhanov, and sometime in November last year, the virtually decapitated “West” was just waiting for disbandment, and its personnel partially went to work for the police.

With Vostok, the situation was more complicated: Sulim Yamadayev is not your disciplined Lieutenant Colonel Kakiev, and he will not obey every command. The Yamadayevs' teip could easily be compared with Kadyrov's in its wealth and influence, and Sulim felt no less important than Ramzan. After in April of this year, two motorcades of Heroes of Russia - Yamadayev and Kadyrov - were unable to pass each other on a narrow mountain path and started a shootout, the fate of the Vostok commander was sealed. His command was extended only by the August South Ossetian campaign, in which the detachment took a very active part.

The Vostok fighters were among the first to enter Tskhinvali and with their appearance largely predetermined the quick outcome of the hostilities. But military successes still did not save Sulim and his squad, although they looked impressive: of the 215 Vostok fighters who took part in the campaign, no one was killed or wounded, only one soldier was shell-shocked. The rest, despite the fact that they were hacked at the most advanced approaches to the city, in the very heat, did not receive a scratch. Combat training. Now it’s clear what Ramzan was afraid of.

And now “East” and “West” are going to be transformed into two motorized rifle companies and included in the 42nd motorized rifle division stationed in Chechnya. What “transformation of two battalions into two companies” means can be easily explained by any military man: this means that the personnel of each unit will be reduced by approximately three times. Accordingly, the combat effectiveness of these units will decrease three times. Although, of course, it’s not at all about the wishes of the President of Chechnya. As Vladimir Moltenskoy, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation explained, the reorganization is being carried out “as part of the formation of a new look for the Ground Forces.” And not at all ordered by Kadyrov, as you might think.

General Moltenskoy emphasized that “the selection for motorized rifle companies will be carried out in the most careful manner.” Translated from military into Russian, this means this: during the “purge” of fighters in the detachments, they will be checked for loyalty to the President of the Chechen Republic, and those who are disloyal will be “cleaned out” on the simple grounds that they do not know how to ride a motorcycle. And then the victims of the “purge” will be dealt with by a commission specially created by the Ministry of Defense, which, together with the military prosecutor’s office, will conduct “an investigation into the crimes incriminated against former battalion soldiers.” However, it is no secret that first of all the commission will deal directly with Sulim Yamadayev.

Yamadayev has been “under investigation” since approximately May of this year, when the Gudermes Interdistrict Investigation Department opened a case against him under Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code (murder). As part of the criminal investigation, he was removed from command of the battalion and was even put on the federal wanted list. Although it was stupid to look for him: until August he was in Grozny and was not hiding from anyone, and after that he was in Tskhinvali.

In other words, no one is particularly looking for him, although the Investigative Committee under the prosecutor’s office even contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs demanding his forcible arrest. However, in reality, no one is going to continue to “nightmare” Yamadayev: moreover, according to our information, he was given a chance to justify himself in absentia to federal structures, in return promising a good position in the Southern Federal District. On the one hand, Sulim is happy, on the other hand, Ramzan is not at a loss.

Now there are rumors that the disbandment of “East” and “West” is not Kadyrov’s intrigues at all, but just an interdepartmental “exchange.” Allegedly, the GRU, in exchange for the appointment of “GER” officer Yunus-bek Yevkurov to Ingushetia, is ready to give up its “instruments of influence” in Chechnya. They say that some kind of bargaining is taking place in the North Caucasus, at the epicenter of which is the possible unification of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Obviously, rumors of a unification are nothing more than speculation. Yevkurov was appointed two weeks ago, and the same “Zapad” has been disbanded for a year already - there is a discrepancy.

So this is not a matter of exchanging Chechnya for Ingushetia, but rather an attempt to further strengthen the current government in the republic. Why Moscow needs this is not entirely clear, because by maintaining the existing counterbalances in the form of the commanders of the same “East” and “West,” it would be much easier to achieve the maintenance of constitutional order in the republic than by handing over Chechnya to a sole ruler. In addition, “East” and “West” often (and, oddly enough, quite harmoniously) acted on the border with Dagestan, mercilessly destroying representatives of the Dagestan terrorist underground. Now all this is in the past: a motorized rifle company will clearly not be able to perform such tasks.

GRU special forces brigades in the wars in Chechnya

The most acute phase of operations in the North Caucasus and Chechnya in particular has already passed. But only for those who have never been closely involved with these events. Every GRU special forces soldier in Chechnya, videos of which can be found in large quantities in this article, is unlikely to ever forget every day spent in the Chechen Republic. This article is long overdue, and it’s not even that it’s approaching, there are simply topics that cannot be ignored.

Let's talk about the participation of special forces in the campaign against the militants of the Chechen field commanders. Or, more simply, about the GRU special forces in Chechnya. The video materials presented in the article will also arouse interest. It is also worth remembering the heroes of this war, or the counter-terrorism operation - as you prefer to call them. The essence will not change from this. Just as there is no way to return those guys from the GRU special forces brigades in Chechnya who remained forever looking at the mountains. Not through the sight of a machine gun, but from the sky.

Those who don’t know history are forced to go through the science all over again. And it would be wrong to forget about the high sacrifices of special forces in this terrible southern meat grinder. You can safely watch GRU special forces on television, stumble upon them in the news or in films, but not know their glorious history. Yes, this often happens. Therefore, it would not be out of place to talk about the nice tough guys from the GRU special forces brigades who honestly fulfilled their duty. And here you can watch a video of GRU special forces in Chechnya in good quality.

Chechen syndrome

What can I say, Russia has a long history, and all sorts of things have happened in it. Different people, different nations live on our vast territory, and even now there are people who secretly dream of independence. What can we say about the collapse of the USSR and the creation of new independent states. Many countries had independent sentiments, but only 15 Soviet socialist republics stood out. The aspirations of SA General Dzhokhar Dudayev did not come true.

The Ichkeria conflict is, of course, not only the battles of Dudayev against the GRU special forces in Chechnya. It just so happened that they were the most combat-ready units in the newly formed Russian army, which had lost in numbers, combat effectiveness, equipment and material base. But it was pleasant to look at the GRU special forces - trained people, most of whom had gone through the crucible of fighting spooks in unfriendly Afghanistan.

The tough guys from the special forces brigades of the Main Intelligence Directorate became everyone in the units that served in Chechnya. Often, poorly trained recruits were thrown into the war, who were afraid even to shoot at the Wahhabis, who were well trained, radically minded, and well armed, with a machine gun. That is why the losses were extremely high. But with the special forces, everything was different - the elite, whatever one may say, are fighters who are prepared to destroy the enemy. If you watch various videos of GRU special forces in Chechnya, you can see how they perform often impossible tasks. But in the GRU special forces brigades there are no random people. It is a fact.

And everyone is a hero

I don’t know if you’ve heard about Senior Lieutenant Dolonin, who served in military intelligence e, V . Now this unit, unfortunately, no longer exists; it was disbanded as a result of the notorious reforms of the Russian army in 2009. But that's not the point. You are unlikely to find a mention of his feat in the collections of videos of the GRU special forces in Chechnya. Yes, and with films on this topic - extremely suitable, I note - it’s a bit difficult, frankly speaking. But the man showed incredible resilience: being seriously wounded, he covered the retreat of his practically surrounded comrades with machine gun fire for a long time. Senior Lieutenant Dolonin died, but his comrades from the 12th GRU Special Operations Brigade were saved from imminent death at the hands of Chechen militants.

People like Senior Lieutenant Dolonin are the quintessence of the entire essence of the role of special forces in the bloody war with the rebels. It was not at all embarrassing to look at the GRU special forces. They were proud of them, respected by their own and openly feared by their enemies. For killing a special forces soldier there was a separate, very large bonus plus promotion up the military ladder. But the soldiers of the GRU special forces brigades destroyed enemies and carried out combat missions rather than fall into the bloody clutches of the enemy and the cold hands of the goddesses of death.

No, of course, special forces soldiers died. It cannot be that the warring parties did not lose anyone - this is the prerogative of myths, cheap action films and all sorts of computer toys. The GRU special forces in Chechnya suffered very heavy losses, amounting to tens and hundreds of people. There were losses due to command errors and encirclement by enemies, from ambushes, during the performance of various tasks, including those that were and are considered impossible. But we are talking about the elite, the very best. Yes, there were losses, but if it weren’t for these soldiers, they would have had to send the best of the worst, and the losses would have been much greater. We must look at the GRU special forces as the force through which many young soldiers went through this school of survival and returned home alive.

Conclusion

I repeat once again: I am convinced and believe that the role of the GRU special forces in Chechnya is practically invaluable. Military intelligence units were the most combat-ready of all units in the Russian army, in principle, as they are now. That's how it should have been. And in wartime, their power, experience and hardening were very necessary to turn the tide of the war in their favor, so that the arriving guys felt more confident under the wing of strong defenders. A war without experienced people develops into a banal throwing of meat.

It is not for nothing that the collections of videos of the GRU special forces in Chechnya are quite large - often the tough guys from the special forces were on the front line, performing a variety of functions and tasks. The broad masses of the population often do not know the names and surnames of ordinary workers of the GRU special forces brigades, but if you wish, you can always get acquainted with the list of at least those who did not live to see the end of the war.

Military Intelligence Day is a very important holiday in the army calendar, perhaps not as famous as Airborne Special Forces Day, but many know about it. I would, of course, like to make this holiday more famous, but not everything depends on the Voenpro online store. We can (and do) write more often about GRU special forces brigades, we can help people buy - we have a wide range of goods for special forces - and we will continue to do this, because we consider it our duty to talk about deserving people.

To make the memory of your service in the military intelligence and special forces unit of the GRU brighter, you can decorate your brigade, detachment, even the personalized flag of your platoon.

And in the fall and winter, in addition to the very symbolism of the formation and type of troops, excellent