Spezwho? Spezwha?

Well, rumors of the demise of the Spetnaz continue to bubble through the Russian media, from newsru.com:

"On the Heels of the Berdsk Special Forces, the GRU Brigade in Asbest Is Being Inactivated"

In Sverdlovsk Oblast the MoD of Russia GRU 12th Special Brigade, which has for many years been based in Asbest, will in the very near future be inactivated. This was announced, RIA Novyy Region reports, by the region's governor Eduard Rossel.

"The MoD has already decided on the formation in the location of the special forces' 12th Brigade in Asbest of an MVD rapid-response regiment. I offered use of this location for the deployment of this regiment," the region's leader told reporters.

We recall that units of the Main Intelligence Directorate are being inactivated as part of the reform of Russia's Armed Forces initiated by Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov.

This follows on the heels of the deactivation of the Berdsk Brigade of the GRU last month. About the same time the Berdsk Brigade was deactivated, reports starting showing up in the Russian press about the establishment of a sort of special operations command for the Russian Military. When asked for comment on the establishment of such a command, Makarov replied with a characteristic "Nyet". So I would guess most of the officers and part of the soldiers from these deactivated GRU brigades will be the core of this new command. This is probably a deal that was cut between the GRU and Ministry of Defense to keep everybody happen for the "reforms". I think the whole SVR boogie man story of them swallowing all the other intelligence and security agencies to make some kindo of Frankenstein super intelligence agency is not true. The GRU is the GRU for a reason, to provide military intelligence, vice political intelligence that the KGB/SVR provides. We'll see some changes, but probably not much. Watch this space! Sphere: Related Content