Weapons of the Russian Federation in Syria. Russian special forces in the Syrian desert. Secret losses of the MTR

They did not attract much attention to themselves. On Victory Day there are traditionally a lot of people on the streets of the capital military uniform at awards. Clean-shaven faces, clean, open looks, a free springy gait... They approached the monument to the heroes of the film “Officers” in front of the National Defense Center, laid flowers and took them “under the visor”, giving a military salute to the bronze prototypes of the heroes of the past. A group of young people, having waited their turn, joyfully surrounded the monument and arranged a memorable photo session. If they knew that the real living heroes of the present time were standing two steps away from the movie officers, they would definitely not have been allowed to leave without a selfie. It’s about people like these two lieutenant colonels and two captains Vladimir Putin said at the Victory Parade:

“We feel a bloody, piercing kinship with the generation of heroes and winners. And turning to them, I will say: you will never be ashamed of us. The Russian, Russian soldier today, as at all times, showing courage and heroism, is ready for any feat. There are such warriors here today, in the ceremonial units on Moscow’s Red Square. The country is proud of you!”

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to call full names these heroes. And they would probably refuse selfies. Daniil, Evgeniy, Roman and Vyacheslav are officers of the Special Operations Forces (SSO), the elite of the Russian armed forces. The other day the President signed a Decree awarding them with high state awards. Lieutenant Colonel Daniil, as the group commander, was awarded the title Hero of Russia.

I have always been amazed by the modesty with which real heroes talk about their exploits. They say it’s nothing special, just work.

“HAVE WORKED GOODLY”

It was a standard day, a routine,” Daniil shrugs.

There was information that in one of the districts of Aleppo province in Syria, attacks by militants of Jabhan al-Nusra (banned in the Russian Federation) have become more frequent terrorist organization, - ed.) to the defensive positions of government forces, recalls Lieutenant Colonel Evgeniy. - We received the task of moving to that area to conduct reconnaissance, identify places where terrorists were gathering, and equipment for guiding our aircraft. We settled in and started working.

A group of Russian special forces of 16 people, being close to the front line, calculated the buildings in which the enemy was holed up, strongholds, armored vehicles, ammunition depots, and movement routes. The fighters promptly transmitted all information with coordinates to headquarters and adjusted the airstrikes. With the help of aviation, three tanks and one MLRS battery were destroyed ( jet system volley fire- Author), homemade launchers, two terrorist warehouses.

In general, we worked fruitfully,” Evgeniy smiles. “But one fine morning everything escalated sharply. A massive shelling of our positions began. Grad installations, mortars, artillery, and tank shelling were used.

4 ATTACKS WERE RETURNED. I HAD TO RUN

The Syrian troops withdrew due to confusion between the units. Lieutenant Colonel Daniil decides to remain at the forefront.

The drone detected a suicide car (a vehicle filled with explosives, driven by a suicide bomber - ed.) moving towards our positions,” he says. - But our experienced pilots worked on time. The car bomb exploded before it reached us.

Pturshchiki are a subgroup of special forces specializing in anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM - Author). Its commander, Captain Roman, explains the Syrian specifics of the work.

To make it clear, in front of the suicide car there was a bulldozer, sheathed with three or four layers of steel sheets, between which sand was poured. A hit from an RPG-7 does not cause much damage to such a vehicle. And a car loaded with explosives is already driving behind him. As a rule, this is a BMP-1. We took up a position on the right flank, the Kornet ATGM operator hit the BMP with the first missile. The explosion was so powerful that even the bulldozer in front was disabled! After that I had to immediately change my position. The enemy had a large number of ATGM (anti-tank missile systems, - author) are mainly foreign-made. After our shots, a rocket arrived from the other side within 30-40 seconds. I had to run. Over the next hour and a half, we managed to destroy a tank that was working from a nearby high-rise in our group. We must pay tribute, the comrades there are not entirely simple. They didn’t stay in one position for long. To hit the tank, I had to work hard. And towards evening they destroyed more anti-aircraft installation Zu-23 by car. Special thanks to our Kornet complex, which Once again showed his best side.

During daylight hours, a small group of Russian Special Operations Forces successfully repelled four terrorist attacks. At the same time, according to the most conservative estimates, there were about 300 people attacking.

Moreover, these were highly trained people,” Lieutenant Colonel Daniil is sure. - Later, during the inspection, it turned out that the terrorists were very well equipped. Imported uniforms, go-pro cameras on their heads, medicine is very expensive. There were also black mercenaries. In general, from experience, local Syrians do not have enough money for this. And on the field they behaved in such a way that serious preparation was visible. And the weapons, in addition to Soviet and Chinese, are American and Israeli.

With the onset of darkness, the group commander decides to mine the approaches to his positions. Armed with night vision devices and thermal imaging equipment, sappers, under the cover of snipers, advanced 500 meters from leading edge. Towards the enemy. Barrage of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines Captain Vyacheslav's subgroup installed it in a controlled version. And it turned out - not in vain.

"ON ANOTHER IT IS IMPOSSIBLE"

It was a little dawn, the militant attacks continued, the second and third waves began,” Vyacheslav says somehow casually. “We consistently undermined the barriers, destroying several armored vehicles and personnel.

It is almost impossible to calculate exactly how many militants were killed. According to our special forces, at night terrorists try to carry their dead from the battlefield. But only at the approaches to the shelters of the MTR fighters, about 30 corpses were found. The special forces held their positions for more than a day when government forces approached. The terrorists lost the mood to attack further. The Russians handed over their lines to the Syrians and retreated to their original position without losses.

Did you consciously make the decision to take the fight or was it spontaneous? - I asked the group commander.

We already know their psychology, we know that they cannot advance for a long time,” says Lieutenant Colonel Daniil. - We were confident in our abilities; the terrain allowed us to hold a defense. It is much more difficult to attack, so they were in an obviously losing situation.

What if you walked away?

The militants would have occupied the commanding heights, and it would have taken weeks to recapture these positions. Plus, the losses of the Syrian army would be much higher.

In those conditions, this was the only solution,” Evgeniy is sure. “There was no other way to do it.”

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 anti-tank systems.

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 troops special forces took part in combat operations to liberate this facility, this decision almost certainly had to be sanctioned by the actual top 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 military operations Russian army, 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 Services 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 by 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.

– Presence Russian forces 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 is quite difficult to make such a difference with such a small 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.

The specific nature of the MTR's actions is such that it is inappropriate to discuss them publicly. These, of course, are not classic covert operations of special services in the well-known style of “if anything, we didn’t do it, we don’t know you and didn’t send anyone there.” But in global world, where information is disseminated almost instantly, the details of such actions should not be disclosed - both for operational reasons and for the safety of fighters and members of their families.

Nevertheless, we have a certain set of official and semi-official information about the tasks and actions of Russian special forces in Syria. The first reports of Russian special forces in the country appeared on the second day of the official start of the operation. On October 1, 2015, a source said that special forces groups were deployed to “protect the perimeter” of Russian military facilities in Syria. Also, according to the agency’s interlocutor, military personnel of the 810th participated in these tasks. separate brigade Marine Corps Black Sea Fleet and the 7th (“Novorossiysk”) airborne assault mountain division.

The source's reports partially received official confirmation in June 2016, when the Minister of Defense awarded the 810th Brigade with the Order of Zhukov. The minister’s long list of merits also includes the fact that the brigade units “carried out a special task of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.”

New information about the work of the Special Forces in Syria, unfortunately, arose in connection with the death of the officers of these units. On March 17, 2016, President Putin visited the Kremlin with relatives of fallen servicemen, among whom was Yulia Zhuravleva. The death of her husband, special forces officer Fyodor Zhuravlev, was reported in the American press back in November 2015.

At the same reception in the Kremlin, one of the officers of the 929th Flight Test Center (Akhtubinsk), Viktor Rodionov, who was awarded the Hero of Russia star, said: “One of my comrades, Zhuravlev, died. When you talk about him, you remember how much he did to guide our long-range missiles so that they hit the target accurately.” As it appears, we're talking about about the episodes of November 17, 19 and 20, 2015, when Russian Long-Range Aviation was first used in Syria cruise missiles air-launched X-555 and X-101. Zhuravlev, as far as can be judged, died precisely on these days.

Immediately after this, on March 24, the death of another air controller from the MTR, senior lieutenant, was reported near Palmyra. According to scant information, on March 17, a special forces soldier was surrounded by militants and drew fire on himself. In April, his body was transferred through the Syrian Kurds to the Russian authorities, and on May 5 it was delivered to Chkalovsky. On May 6, Prokhorenko was buried in his homeland, in the Orenburg region.

Then, in March 2016, commander Russian group in Syria, the Colonel General gave a “ceremonial” interview to “”. There he casually remarked: “I will not hide the fact that units of our Special Operations Forces are also operating in Syria. They carry out additional reconnaissance of targets for Russian air strikes, guide aircraft to targets in remote areas, and solve other special tasks.”

In December 2016, the Rossiya-24 TV channel showed reportage about the actions of Russian special forces in Syria. In fact, this was the first detailed official report about the participation of Russian special forces in battles. As follows from the report, they are hunting for field commanders, providing air guidance, and also providing support to the Syrian troops with trained snipers. As one of the officers said in the story, MTR fighters were involved in a search and rescue operation in November 2015 against Konstantin Murakhtin, the navigator of a Su-24 bomber shot down by the Turkish Air Force.

Obviously, the actions of Russian special forces in Syria were not limited to these episodes. SOF soldiers performed a lot of routine tasks every day, from conducting classic special operations to ensuring the security of humanitarian cargo, missions of the center for reconciliation of the parties, and the like.

It should be understood that the presence of Russian special operations forces ground troops in Syria was not exhausted. Thus, in November 2015, information spread about the deployment of Russian artillery units in the country. During the report of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to the president, there were slides with a map of military operations. Near settlement Hamrat, on the territory of the permanent location of the artillery unit of the Syrian army, the positions of the 5th howitzer were designated artillery battery 120th Guards Artillery Brigade. In the video footage this card demonstrated from 04:03.

The 120th artillery brigade of the Russian army is permanently stationed in Yurga ( Kemerovo region). Judging by the entry on the map, a battery of six 152-mm towed howitzers 2A65 Msta-B has been in this area since 14:00 on November 6, 2015. Russian Msta-B howitzers were caught on video cameras already at the beginning of November 2015, but it was believed that this material part, handed over to the Syrian army.

Russian military engineers took an active part in the campaign, engaged in demining cities liberated from terrorists - Palmyra, Aleppo, Palmyra again and a number of others, however, according to unconfirmed reports, engineering units also participated in assault operations, ensuring the targeted destruction of terrorist strongholds in fortified areas and urban areas. development, as well as blocking communications.

In general, information about the actions of Russian ground units in Syria is very fragmentary and incomplete - as well as about the actions of their American colleagues in Iraq (and certain areas of Syria). We can only hope that detailed history the campaign will still be written.

Along the deserted streets of Palmyra, the wind drives smoldering rags and dried leaves of branches cut by splinters. Deserted houses sadly slam the shutters of windows that have long since lost all their glass. Rare Syrian soldiers, seeing us, show ISIS (ISIS is an organization banned in the Russian Federation - ed.) a house of worship, followed by a field hospital in the basement. On some houses there are still inscriptions in Russian: “There are no minutes.” After the last release. Now the sappers have not finished their work yet. A black terrorist flag flutters on the roof of the Heliopolis Hotel - the building of the former headquarters has not yet been cleared of mines. Over the past three years, the town has been twice attacked by medieval barbarians. And each time they were driven out of the city mainly thanks to the help of the Russian military. In addition to the Aerospace Forces bombers that crushed strongholds and fortified areas of militants from the air, units of the Special Operations Forces worked on the ground.

Special Operations Forces are the elite of the Russian Armed Forces Photo: Alexander KOTS

Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Alexander Kots spent the day with a Special Operations Forces unit near Palmyra.

The MTR is the elite of the Russian Armed Forces. Special forces, each fighter of which is a top-class specialist. These are snipers who destroyed terrorist leaders from among Russian immigrants. Thanks to them, Russian pilots hit ISIS positions on the heights leading to Palmyra without missing a beat, bringing liberation closer ancient city. Their names cannot be mentioned, their faces cannot be shown, and in many ways their work is classified as “Top Secret.” Together with a convoy of Special Operations Forces, I am moving to the front lines near Palmyra, from which the militants were thrown back, but they are leaving very reluctantly. In order of battle armored vehicles They travel only along proven bypass roads to minimize risks - militants can plant landmines at night.

MTR fighters differ from other representatives of the RF Armed Forces even in appearance. Although, if you meet such a person in civilian life, you will hardly be able to distinguish him from an ordinary passerby. Here is the most modern equipment, weapons and technical equipment. The fighters look, needless to say, impressive. Like in the movies. Just on real war the cost of error is disproportionately higher. You can't shoot a second take. Special forces from the hatches of the "Tigers" tenaciously peer along the flanks, moving the barrel easel grenade launcher AGS. The detour takes an hour and a half longer, but we get to the MTR observation post without incident.

MTR fighter in position Photo: Alexander KOTS

From here it is two kilometers to the village where the militants have settled. It’s five to the “green patch” under the height occupied by terrorists. Several Russian special forces soldiers are lying on a hillock, drilling into enemy territory with binoculars. A few minutes later, several powerful explosions mushroom on the horizon. The Russian Aerospace Forces, thanks to coordinates from MTR specialists, suppressed the resistance of the militants in the green area.

There is a large concrete hangar nearby. Inside are three burned out ISIS tanks. Above is a huge hole in the concrete as an example of the filigree work of Russian pilots. But the coordinates of this hangar were transmitted directly from the ground.

Special operations forces ensure the Syrian army moves forward. A new image of Russian special forces - well trained, well armed and equipped, performing tasks of any complexity anywhere in the world. Although, of course, the Syrians will have to do the main work themselves. No one will storm the heights occupied by ISIS for them. But thanks to the interaction of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Special Forces, this will be much easier to do.

“This time, during the capture of Palmyra, everything went faster,” admit the Syrian fighters. — Almost all of us took part in the first assault and learned to interact with the Russians. We had to work hard to capture the Citadel - five machine gunners were sitting there, and you can’t bomb architectural monuments. But in the end we managed. We will not give up Tadmor (the Arabic name for Palmyra) again.

Thanks to the coordinates transmitted by the MTR soldiers, Russian aviation delivered a precise strike to the hangar in which three ISIS tanks were hidden Photo: Alexander KOTS

Four Syrians and one Russian planes and headed towards the old city. There, in the amphitheater, music sounded again. On the occasion of the arrival of the commander of the Russian group Andrei Kartapolov in Palmyra, the Syrians organized a small concert of student ensembles who performed patriotic songs in gratitude for Russian help.

EQUIPMENT OF MTR FIGHTERS