Emblem of Vympel

Vympel (Russian: Вымпел meaning Pennant, also known as Vega Group or Spetsgruppa V) is a Russian counter-terrorism unit. The exact lineage is not known but was formed in 1981 by KGB Gen. Drozdov within the First Chief Directorate of the KGB as a dedicated OSNAZ unit specialised in deep penetration, sabotage, universal direct and covert action, embassy protection and spy cell activation in case of war. Image File history File links Vympel. ... Image File history File links Vympel. ... Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, tactics, and strategies that governments, militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight terrorism. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The First Chief Directorate (Russian: Первое Главное Управление) [or-PGU] of the Committee for State Security (KGB), was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence collection activities by the training and management of covert agents, intelligence collection management, and the collection of political, scientific and technical intelligence. ... The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ... A member of the OSNAZ MVD Rus team. ... Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction. ... Bold textCovert action is a practice that generally falls into the human intelligence area, that varies in purpose which may include gathering intelligence, kidnapping, sabotage, assasination, and other health altering practices. ... A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one nation state present in another nation state to represent the sending state in the receiving State. ...

Most of the Vympel operatives mastered 2-3 foreign languages, for they were supposed to act in foreign countries, deep behind enemy lines. The first approved Vympel agent was Evgueni Savintsev, a professional KGB officer. The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ...

Vympel quickly gained the reputation of being the best Russian special forces unit ever, surpassing its GRU and MVD counterparts. However, after the collapse of the USSR, Vympel was decimated by endless re-organisation and re-definition: it passed under the aegis of the Security Ministry before being receded to the GUO (both institutions were shortlived offspring of the ex-KGB during the Yeltsin era) and finally passed to the MVD. Emblem of GRU spetsnaz GRU is the English transliteration of the Russian acronym ГРУ, which stands for Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние (Glavnoe Razvedyvatelnoe Upravlenie), meaning Main Intelligence Directorate. ... Modern emblem of Russian MVD Russian Gendarme officers in the 1860s The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the imperial Russia, later USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation. ... Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (b. ... Modern emblem of Russian MVD Russian Gendarme officers in the 1860s The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) (Министерство внутренних дел) was the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the imperial Russia, later USSR, and still bears the same name in the Russian Federation. ...

The militsiya had no use for such a unit. The bulk of the Vympel operatives couldn't stand the humiliation of being subordinated to the 'police', and duly resigned (of 278 officers, only 57 accepted to remain within the MVD). The unit was re-named Vega. A member of a Russian special purpose police team (OMSN), equipped with a 9A91 submachine gun. ... Vega (α Lyr / α Lyrae / Alpha Lyrae) is a white main sequence star approximately 25. ...

In 1995, the FSB Special Operations Center (TsSN FSB) was logically granted control over Vympel. Vympel regained its original name and was re-integrated in the Intelligence Service structures. The emphasis shifted from covert and clandestine sabotage operations to counter-terrorism and nuclear safety enforcement. Vympel operatives undergo special training related to improvised or special explosive devices, permitting them to use 'terrorist-like' tactics to carry out their operations. Physical training includes close hand combat, parachute training, diving, underwater combat techniques, climbing, ropetech alpinism. FSB may stand for one of the following. ... Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, tactics, and strategies that governments, militaries, and other groups adopt in order to fight terrorism. ...

Vympel (i.e. the Directorate "V" of the TsSN FSB) is still a classified and secretive unit. Little is known about its current operations and activities, the exception being the capture of the Chechen terrorist and rebel leader Salman Raduev in March 2000. Salman Raduyev (or Raduev, Russian: Салман Радуев; February 13, 1967 — December 14, 2002) was a Chechen rebel leader. ...

See also

• Alpha Group
• Vityaz (MVD)
• Rus (special forces)
• spetsnaz
• OMON
• SOBR
• VDV

For a discussion of Vympel by a former Soviet Military Intelligence officer, see Boris Volodarsky, "License to Kill" Wall Street Journal, 20 December 2006 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116658415633355185.html). A member of the FSB Alpha Group, equipped with the silenced AS VAL assault rifle. ... Vityaz unit emblem Vityaz (Russian: , Knight) is a Russian Spetsnaz unit of the MVD. Vityaz is assigned specifically to counter-terrorism duties. ... A member of the OSNAZ MVD Rus team. ... Russian special forces showcasing their skills For the Swedish EBM band, see Spetsnaz (band). ... The OMON insignia OMON (Russian: Отряд милиции особого назначения; Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya, Special Purpose Detachment of Militsiya) is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet, Ministerstvo Vnutrennih Del (MVD; Ministry of Internal Affairs). ... The Special Rapid Reaction Unit or SOBR (Russian: специальные отряды быстрого реагирования = Spetsialnyye Otryady Bystrogo Reagirovaniya) is an elite commando unit of the Russian Interior Ministry, involved in anti-criminal operations. ... VDV flag. ...

External links

• Official site