After all, the modern Spetsnaz are really products of the Cold War, (re)created in 1957 within the GRU as battalion-strength units able to range behind NATO lines to locate and, ideally ...

All Spetsnaz brigades were disbanded or moved under other military commands, while the GRU's presence in Russian embassies abroad was dramatically scaled back. Under Sergun, the GRU regained ...

Of the 88,000 identified soldiers, 6,000 were members of elite Russian forces, including marines, paratroopers, Spetsnaz GRU special forces (foreign military intelligence) and air force pilots.