Russian special forces uniform in Syria. Special operations forces: analysis of Russia's military successes in Syria. Secret losses of the MTR

Reading time: 7 minutes. Views 21 Published 03/07/2017

Western media: Assad's army is winning thanks to the effective actions of Russian special forces.

Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, who commanded the Russian military group in Syria, admitted back in September 2015 that special forces are fighting in Syria:

– “I will not hide the fact that units of our Forces are also operating on the territory of Syria. special operations. They carry out additional reconnaissance of targets for Russian air strikes, guide aircraft to targets in remote areas, and solve other special tasks.”

The first military transport aircraft carrying groups of Special Operations Forces (SSO) landed at the Khmeimim airbase back in September last year.

Soldiers of Russian special forces, for example, took part in rescuing the crew of the Russian front-line bomber Su-24, shot down on the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24 last year by an F-16 fighter of the Turkish Air Force. Five Mi-8 helicopters took part in the rescue operation, with 7–8 fighters on board each Marine Corps and special forces of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (former name - GRU special forces), now these units are called Special Operations Forces (SSO).

Another one major operation SOF fighters in Syria - this is the unblocking of the Quires airbase in the province of Aleppo.

On October 22 last year, advanced units of the Syrian army reached an airbase at a distance of 5-6 kilometers with heavy fighting and were stuck at this point for several weeks. The main problem For the armored vehicles of the Syrian army, mobile units of militants armed with anti-tank systems became available.

Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces and artillery struck the positions of the militants, but this helped little: it cost Syrian tanks leave their positions, as they were met with targeted fire by the operator-gunners of the BGM-71 TOW ATGM. On the approaches to the Quires airbase, the Syrian army lost several dozen tanks and armored personnel carriers.

It was then that the decision was made to use sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

According to our information, Russian special forces conducted three night raids near Quires, during which several dozen terrorist anti-tank systems were eliminated. And after such a “cleansing”, the Syrian army unblocked the airbase.

In November 2015, it was decided to reinforce the units of the 104th Brigade of the Republican Guard of the Syrian Army with Russian special forces soldiers.

Soldiers of the special operations forces of the Russian Armed Forces are still fighting in Syria today, and it is thanks to them that they managed to close the militant corridor in Aleppo.

In the article Did Russian special forces help the Syrian army win Aleppo, the tabloid The Duran claims that only thanks to the participation of Russian special forces in the battles in Aleppo, it was possible to take “the territory artillery base Aleppo,” and led to the elimination of the narrow corridor created by jihadist militants on August 5 in the encirclement of the neighborhoods they controlled in western Aleppo.

– Judging by the photographs, the Russian special forces are fully equipped and armed, which suggests that they recently took part in an attempt to recapture the “Aleppo artillery base.” If Russian special forces did take part in the assault on the base, this could explain the rapid capture of the facility, which had previously been fought over for several weeks.

Russia has repeatedly denied suggestions that its troops are involved in any ground military operations in Syria, and if its special forces did participate in the liberation of the “Aleppo artillery base,” then Russian statements contradict reality.

However, it has long been common international practice to treat special forces separately from other soldiers, so refuting allegations of the country's involvement in ground battles does not apply to them. A good example may be the recently confirmed presence of British special forces in Syria, while the British government has been last months also repeatedly denied the fact of sending ground military units to Syria.

A few days ago, the Russian military actually deployed not big number elite marines in Aleppo (according to various estimates from 80 to 120 people), presumably to participate in humanitarian operations in the area. Perhaps it was this mission that was used as a pretext for the deployment of special forces, which were photographed by the photographer at the “Aleppo artillery base” and who participated in its liberation.

“If Russian special forces took part in the combat operations to liberate this facility, this decision would almost certainly have received sanction at the highest level during one of the many meetings of the Russian Security Council that took place in August. Most likely, we are talking about an unscheduled meeting that took place on August 8, 2016, three days after the jihadists stormed the “Aleppo artillery base”, on the eve of Putin’s trip to Baku to meet with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Iran. However, whenever this decision was made, President Putin undoubtedly had a personal connection to it.

– Even if it is eventually confirmed that Russian special forces took part in the liberation of the site in Aleppo, a sense of proportion must be observed here. Although they are actually perfectly trained elite troops, they are still not supermen. If they number 80-120 people, as the report claims, they clearly could not take over the entire vast base area on their own in the face of resistance from hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jihadist fighters.

“They may have constituted only a small part of the Syrian troops who participated in its liberation. Although Russian special forces may have taken part in some elements military operation, most likely they were assigned the functions of command, control and supervision, with the aim of assisting the Syrian troops directly liberating the base.

According to CNA analyst Michael Kofman, who specializes in Russian military operations, there are currently two main Russian forces operating in Syria. special purpose- “Zaslon” and KSO (Special Operations Forces).

– The fact that Russian troops are taking part in ground operations in Syrian war, has been known for a long time.

- So in the composition of the troops that recently recaptured from " Islamic State» Palmyra, there were units of the Syrian and Iranian armies, as well as armed formations of Hezbollah. And, as Russian authorities said, the victory was achieved thanks to another unit - Russia's elite special forces unit, also known as spetsnaz.

Russian special forces have become one of the central themes of Russian news reports on the war in Syria because the battle for Palmyra fits directly into the anti-ISIS rhetoric that Russia initially used to justify the intervention, says a research analyst at the Institute of the Study of War ) Chris Kozak.

“The participation of Russian special forces in the battles for Palmyra “looks great,” Kozak noted.

Special unit of the Service foreign intelligence Russia's "Zaslon" is a top-secret special unit designed for force response and security in particularly dangerous areas. CSO is an analogue of the American Joint Special Operations Command and was created in last years.

“Russian special forces do a lot of work in directing and coordinating Russian air strikes on ground targets, and Russian military advisers are doing a lot of work in the Syrian army,” says Kofman. However, he added that these units are engaged in collecting the bulk of intelligence information and identifying the most important terrorist targets in order to support operations carried out Russian aviation and the Syrian army.

Unlike most departments American forces special forces (who currently instruct the Iraqi and Syrian military at the battalion and brigade level, located in the rear), Russian special forces participate in combat operations on the side of the Syrian army, providing operational and tactical support.

– The presence of Russian special forces and military advisers on the front line, in turn, contributed to the fact that Syrian government forces and allies of President Bashar al-Assad gained a foothold in the occupied lines and retook territory in different parts countries. According to Kofman, Russian ground units - despite the hype about sending a Russian air group to the country - are the link that helps the Syrian army fight and demonstrate much higher combat effectiveness.

- “In fact, it’s quite difficult to change the situation so much, having such a lack of a large number of aircraft - even though they flew a large number of sorties, it was the effective actions of the Russian Spenaz that turned the tide of the war in Syria,” notes Kofman.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense killed Artem Gorbunov in the Palmyra area. Regarding the death of a resident Chelyabinsk region Ivan Slyshkin, who, according to media reports, was, the Ministry of Defense reported that “according to accounting data,<…>he really passed conscript service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, after which in 2013 he was duly transferred to the reserve.” On this moment The Ministry of Defense has officially recognized the death of 27 Russian servicemen in Syria.

On February 27, our country celebrated MTR Day of Russia and the rare footage work of special forces of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Syria.

Elite Russian Army captured in all its glory - details are clearly visible modern equipment and weapons. In the footage, special forces soldiers operate in the urban conditions of war-torn Aleppo and in the desert area of ​​Homs province - near ancient Palmyra.

The military has camouflage weapons in their hands with the latest sniper and collimator sights, as well as devices silent shooting. In addition, in the frame are Tiger armored vehicles, anti-tank complex And sniper rifles.

The MTR of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is an elite of elites, a concentration of experience, latest technologies And modern methods military labor.

The Special Operations Forces of the Ministry of Defense as part of the Armed Forces of our country are essentially special forces top level among all army special units. The MTR was created in 2009. Their tasks include mainly sabotage and reconnaissance operations. They know how to operate under water, on land and in the air, landing from many kilometers high and quietly approaching the enemy from the depths of the water.

The MTR special forces groups are armed with a wide range of weapons from small arms to the latest armored vehicles, high-precision sniper systems and anti-tank missile systems.

For many years the fact of the existence of a new type of troops was hidden, but during the counter-terrorism operation in Syria Russian leadership officially recognized the presence of Special Operations Forces in the Middle East. The combat experience of military personnel who went through this war is already being studied, because even according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, it was thanks to the actions of domestic special forces in Syria that great successes were achieved in a short period of time, including increasing the accuracy of air strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

"Russian Spring" I have written many times about the participation of Russian elite units in battles with international terrorism in various parts of Syria, and also published photographs and videos from this theater of war.

It is known that in Syrian Arab The Republic is coming testing of the latest special equipment designed for reconnaissance, detection and destruction of the enemy: infrared sights, thermal imagers, small reconnaissance drones and even combat robots are used.

All the experience of our military-industrial complex and special training has been united together for decades. MTR operations in the SAR are best characterized by the words “military surgical intervention": being deep behind enemy lines, with the help of high-precision sniper weapons special forces achieve critical results comparable to weeks of air strikes.

A Russian special forces fighter talks about his business trip to Syria and interaction with the Syrian military

How do you rate ISIS fighters? Both Lately have their units changed? Have new weapons, tactics, modern weapons appeared?

We had several business trips, and each time the militants changed. It was not like we arrived and the enemy remained the same. The situation does not stand still. For example, now militants have a lot of night vision devices. These are binocular devices and “Cyclops” (a night vision device with two eyepieces combined into one unit. - Izvestia). There are also “pipes” - night vision sights. They are installed on weapon. The militants also have “tepljaki” (thermal imagers - Izvestia). Previously, all this goodness did not exist. For example, we even captured Belarusian Pulsar night vision devices from the enemy. Quite good and relatively inexpensive products with a Chinese matrix. They also had “Pulsars” with rangefinder units.

- How effectively do militants use night vision devices and thermal imagers?

So far, militants do not fully know how to use this technique. For example, when they work with night vision scopes, they do not take into account the ballistics of the weapon. A bullet is not a laser beam. It flies along a certain trajectory. To hit, especially at a long distance, you need to make adjustments when shooting, make takeaways and take leads. They don't. That's why they often don't get there.

Sentinels at posts do not use “night lights” all the time. They look for a while and put away the devices. And then they just listen to what’s happening around them. Therefore, they often cannot detect in time what is happening near the position.

But still, in combat work you have to constantly take into account that the enemy has “warmers” and “nightlights”. Especially when you approach militant positions at night. You must behave very carefully, control your movements and carefully monitor the sentries.

- It is known that ISIS units often use various drones. Have you come across such products?

Mostly they make them with their own hands. They buy engines, control systems and other parts on the Internet. Quadcopters are also used. Drones and quadcopters work very efficiently.

For example, we saw this option. “Fantik” (quadcopter of the Phantom series. - “Izvestia”) with a fixed hook. An improvised explosive device (IED) is suspended from a hook. The IED has a remote detonation unit and legs. The camouflage device is covered with grass. “Fantik” secretly brings it and places it in the grass next to the road or in a trench. And the militants are watching and, when someone approaches or a car passes, they detonate the charge remotely. Its power is enough to break a truck wheel.

We have seen quadcopters with homemade bombs. Small tubes, strikers are made from nails, stabilizers are made from cut bags. The charge contains a fraction. The quadcopter is almost inaudible. He flies up and drops a bomb. Within a radius of 5 m you can receive serious shrapnel wounds. At the same time, militants understand the importance of drones. And they are trying to shoot down ours and the Syrians. They shot down a quadcopter of one of our units. Apparently, they got him from the SVD.

-Can you tell us about your combat work?

We tried to hit the enemy in the most weak points, where he is not waiting for us, and inflict maximum defeat. Once we went a good distance from the contact line to the rear of the militants. And at night they raided their positions.

The terrain in the area where we worked is a “Martian” landscape. There are cracks in the ground and stones everywhere, which are collected in heaps and shafts. Moreover, each shaft is 2–3 m high and from 500 m to 1 km long. The twists and turns make it difficult to navigate the terrain at night. At the same time, finding the enemy is not easy. The heated stones are very similar to the head or other parts of the human body.

There was a building deep in the enemy's defenses. At one time, the militants blew it up, and it settled. But if you climb onto its roof, or rather, onto what’s left of it, it opens good review at the enemy position. But to get to the building, you had to cross the road. And it is located on a one and a half meter embankment, and when you overcome it, you become very noticeable. And a little further, at the crossroads, the militants have a dugout with heavy machine gun. Of course, I had to work hard. We began to monitor the enemy. They waited for the militants to lose their vigilance. Then we quickly overcame this milestone. We took positions, got ready and started working.

The militants clearly did not expect that someone would be able to attack them so boldly at night and exterminate them so intensively. We then “worked” several dozen people. At first the enemy was in shock. They did not understand what was happening and where they were being shot at from. But then their reserves increased. The enemy regrouped, and they started shooting at the “house” from all guns, leveling our shelter to the ground. Apparently, the enemy realized that it was most convenient to work from “home.” Plus, we noticed they had surveillance devices. The militants even tried to make a small detour and began to fire at us from the flank with a machine gun. There were some who were quite daring. Several militants went ahead. They were hiding behind rocks. They managed to overcome about 100 m. However, we killed them all. We began to move away from “home.” But the machine gun on the flank did not allow us to cross the road. But you can’t wait on the spot. They will cover you with mortar fire. I had to retreat along the road. When the enemy was changing magazines in his machine guns and reloading machine guns, we crossed the ill-fated road with a sharp dash. After this, we were already provided with a relatively safe departure.

A few days later we decided to plan an operation in another area using the same scheme. First, we studied the area, carefully worked out all the issues of the operation, and took into account previous experience.

But this time they decided to take more powerful fire weapons - hand grenade launchers. We also had machine guns, sniper rifles and machine guns.

It was relatively close to the place. But we walked very carefully. Therefore, the approach took us several hours. There were some abandoned positions along the way. Moreover, there were still awnings and mattresses lying there. I had to stop and inspect them. There could be mines there. There was a lot of garbage, tin cans and cartridge zinc in the grass. Even if you just hook it, there will be a lot of noise.

We arrived at the site quite late. Dawn was about to begin. Therefore, we had to act quickly and boldly. We settled down, observed the positions of the militants, assessed their number, weapons, and the nature of their actions. Well, we started working.

The subject of our interest was one building and the approaches to it. As we understand it, this is a kind of guardhouse. There the militants rested, ate food and prepared to take over the post. This is exactly what we needed. A large concentration of the enemy, who thinks that he is safe and does not expect an attack. They recorded the moment when a large number of militants gathered, apparently for instructions.

Then everything developed rapidly. They fired grenade launchers. The building flies up into the air, the militants panic. Our shooters, with precise shots, finish off those who were thrown back by the explosion and were beginning to come to their senses. Then, according to radio interception data, we were told that we had captured four important commanders and several dozen militants.

True, shots from grenade launchers immediately unmasked our positions and the militants again crawled out of all the cracks, like last time. The enemy had hidden communication routes along which their machine gunners advanced towards us. They turned around and opened fairly accurate fire. The bullets landed so close that you could feel their tracks with your body. The splashes were very close.

We began to retreat in an organized manner, covering each other under enemy fire. The first one covers, and the second one moves, takes a position, then the first one pulls up to him, etc. The militants again behaved very impudently. Plus they knew the terrain well. We have already moved a fair distance from the battlefield. Suddenly a militant jumps out from the flank and starts shooting. He managed to release almost the entire store in our direction. And I was just running across at that time. But my partner did a good job. All I heard was the sound of gunshots, “bam-bam.” A clear “two” right in the center of the “carcass”.

If we had delayed a little, the daring fighter would have come to our rear. The operation was very successful. We made quite a bit of noise there.

- How did you interact with the Syrian military?

It is necessary to establish interaction with them and involve them in every possible way in completing tasks. If we go on a mission, we gather Syrian commanders from all over the front. Often it is only at such meetings that they get to know each other. We help them establish interaction with each other. We explain where, how and from where we will work, and take them with us personnel. We make sure to instruct them to let us return from the battle and not to hit us with their fire. We try to leave our representative for coordination. Syrian soldiers are different. There are combat ones. And sometimes, under fire, you tell him to “run,” but he can’t move - his legs have become weak. And sometimes they start crying. On the one hand, they can be understood. We're here on a business trip. We won back and went home. And they have been fighting here continuously for six years.

With Russian-speaking crew; officially Russian operation in Syria began on September 30, 2015). Unlike the war in Donbass, the participation of Russian forces in battles on the ground in one form or another was openly acknowledged (guiding aircraft to targets, instructors, guarding convoys, etc.) However, our team noticed that Russia is taking a differentiated approach to the Syrian losses, depending on what branch of the military the dead served in and what task they performed.

The Russian military department independently reported about the artilleryman Ivan Cheremisin who died in Syria, but did not mention his name - this information was subsequently established by journalists.

Almost every Russian soldier killed in Syria was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.

Secret losses of the MTR

Arkhireev Oleg

About a month ago, a relative of a Russian serviceman who died in Syria contacted us. This serviceman was a soldier of the Special Purpose Center "Senezh" (Special Operations Forces) Oleg Arkhireev. A close military man who contacted us said that, as in the case of Fyodor Zhuravlev, the relatives of the deceased were given papers stating that he died during the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Despite this, the relatives know the truth that Oleg died in Syria, since he sent them photographs, and the real circumstances of his death were reported unofficially. We were unable to find confirmation in open sources that Oleg died in Syria, however, there are publications that note that he died while on duty by being blown up by a mine:

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One of the commemorative collages with photographs of the deceased shows a photograph of him from the time he studied at a military educational institution:

Based on the chevron, we established that Oleg is a graduate of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School (RVVDKU):

We have established that Oleg is buried near Solnechnogorsk, in a separate area of ​​the cemetery where dead soldiers of the Special Operations Forces from Solnechnogorsk are buried (there is a similar area in the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery, where dead soldiers of the Special Operations Center of the FSB of the Russian Federation are buried):

At Oleg’s grave we found a wreath from military unit 01355:

Russian special operations forces combine two main units: the Senezh Special Purpose Center in Solnechnogorsk, as well as the Kubinka-2 Center - military unit 01355. That is A wreath from the MTR soldiers was laid on Oleg’s grave.

Sorochenko Maxim

Near the grave of Oleg Arkhireev, we discovered the grave of another Special Operations Forces soldier: Maxim Aleksandrovich Sorochenko

Maxim was awarded the Order of Kutuzov posthumously. In the upper right corner of the tombstone we see the MTR emblem:

We noticed that he died on November 19, 2015 - the same day as Fedor Zhuravlev, about whom:

Moreover, information was found in open sources that at the 10th anniversary international judo tournament among the police and army, car keys were presented to the widows of deceased military personnel, including both the widow of Fyodor Zhuravlev and the widow of Maxim Sorochenko (present in the photographs):

From here we conclude that since both Fedor Zhuravlev and Maxim Sorochenko were MTR fighters and died on the same day, and their widows were also awarded at the same time at the tournament, it is highly likely that they died in the same battle.

Suslov Sergey

Next to the graves of Oleg Arkhireev and Maxim Sorochenko there is also the grave of another Special Operations Forces soldier: Sergei Borisovich Suslov

Like most of the Russian military killed in Syria, Sergei Suslov was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously. However, he died on June 14, 2014, when the transfer had not even begun Russian troops to Syria, and the participation of Russian troops in the war in Donbass has only just begun to emerge. We still have to establish where exactly captain Sergei Borisovich Suslov died.

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Stories like this usually don't become public knowledge. They are silent about them. Both the participants in the actions themselves and the senior military leadership.

Only with the passage of time, the seal of secrecy is removed from some documents and then the world will know the truth...
And before that, there were only stories and legends among the military, among ordinary people. These stories are passed down from mouth to mouth, told over a good snack, in the kitchen, and often become the subject of heated discussions. Was it, wasn't it?

In 2016, a special forces group was deployed behind militant lines in the area adjacent to Palmyra. The task included additional reconnaissance on the ground and coordination of the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces to launch air strikes to support the Syrian army.

It was ordered to enter into fire contact only in case of emergency. But, if anything is detected, air support for the Special Operations Forces (SSO) is guaranteed.

According to introductory intelligence data, there were American, perhaps also British and French special forces in the same area, who instructed the militants, but, of course, did not come under attack themselves. If something happened, they simply disappeared in unknown directions.

The group on foreigners did not receive any special instructions. But very often it turned out that instructors had to be released due to some specific and not always beautiful agreements. War is a disgusting thing, especially when there is no open confrontation in the sense in which politicians portray it.

After a while, our guys discovered a fortified area of ​​militants. The sniper, while watching through his sights, added to the intelligence report that there were clearly American and maybe British specialists among the terrorists. Determined by equipment. Moreover, in front of foreigners, militants had just executed two Syrians in military uniform government forces. They shot me in the back of the head.

Commander, of course they don’t kill themselves, but they don’t interfere either. Well, this is some kind of (further obscenities)... Maybe he should immediately let our air forces be covered so that the staff officers don’t find out? Otherwise they will start communicating through their own channels, as always, with requests and other things...

We don’t have direct instructions for the Americans, but you know, if they find out that they are caught in the mix, the politicians on the other side will raise such a howl - mother, don’t worry.

So, no better than action movies. They do not live by the laws of war. The Germans were kinder in WWII...

There is a difference between German and German. Just like Amer Amer. But these... yes, I agree with these. Falcon, inform our team that you have discovered a fortified area with a large concentration of manpower and equipment. Only the militants did not notice the foreigners. Apparently they are preparing an attack on Palmyra. It is necessary to cover it as early as possible, before the column moves out, while the collection is underway. Well, you know...

Yes, commander!

In principle, the commander was not very disingenuous. The militants were clearly going somewhere. It may happen to the city. The Americans, of course, will not attack. Most likely they will leave the area. They will call the turntables, as has happened more than once. And look for fistulas.
About twenty minutes later, two flights of Sushki flew over the heads of the MTR fighters and all hell broke loose over the fortified area... Several approaches and the fighters went beyond the horizon.

The MTR soldiers looked at the smoking ruins and moved on. There is still a lot of work ahead...

They say that some people in the United States were very indignant that the Russian Aerospace Forces covered the Americans and their allies along with the opposition, which should not be confused with militants, absolutely nothing... But the scandal was quickly hushed up. This is war. And that’s not what happens.

On top of everything, the amers were afraid to say something like this openly. After all, this could lead to direct confrontation with Russia. And they didn't really want that. We’re used to raking in the heat with someone else’s hands.

There is also evidence from the opposite side...
What the American special forces soldier, who introduced himself as Klein, told about is unlikely to ever be told or shown in the West. There, according to the soldier, they are hiding the truth about the losses in Syria with all their might.

But one day he felt in his own skin the full force of punishment for preparing Syrian terrorists, which led the US Special Operations Forces. The special forces soldier remembered this day for the rest of his life.

He told how, under the guise of instructors, he taught Syrian militants to kill for the benefit of America.

“With our help, the militants won for the sake of America - and that was the main thing,” the soldier admitted.

That was until he clashed with the Russians in Aleppo in 2016. The special forces soldier admitted that tame American militants had been “ironing” the city for a year.

The Russians created a real hell for the terrorists and their “instructors”, without giving a moment’s respite, pouring heavy fire on the enemy in support of the Syrian government troops.

In that battle, the special forces soldier received, as he admitted, a “mark” from a sniper. "As a keepsake." He never missed the militants - he hit them right in the head.

Having survived the “meat grinder”, American soldier ended up in the hospital. He spoke for the first time about what happened in Syria then.