Alpha Group
The
Alpha Group (also known as
Spetsgruppa A) is a dedicated
counter-terrorism unit that belongs to
OSNAZ of the
FSB (former
KGB), or more specifically the "A" Directorate of the
FSB Special Operations Center (
TsSN). It is currently believed to consist of 700 persons, 400 assigned to the Moscow Detachment and the remaining 300 located in other cities in Russia (unverified).
Alpha Group's primary function is believed to be to carry out urban counter-terrorist missions under the direct sanction and control of the Russian political leadership. However, little is publicly known and other plausible missions would include a variety of
paramilitary, policing and/or covert operations, similar to the missions of its secretive
pendant, the "V" Group, or
Vympel.
By Russian standards, Alpha squad is lavishly supported and funded and has access to state of the art small arms and equipment. They have employed chemical agents in hostage rescue operations and are capable of functioning in an
NBC environment. Little further information is publicly available. It is assumed that Alpha is equipped with sniper and counter-sniper capability, tactical
EMS, demolitions, tactical intelligence and other functions typical of both police
SWAT teams and the
special operations community. It is unknown whether they have dedicated hostage negotiators.
"Alpha Group" or Group A, a
special forces (
spetsnaz) or
special operations detachment
OSNAZ unit attached to the
KGB was created
29 July 1974 within the
First Chief Directorate of the KGB on the orders of
Yuri Andropov, then Chairman of the KGB. It was intended for secret foreign operations.
Their most notable mission during the
Soviet period was the seizure of
Amin's palace in
Afghanistan on
27 December 1979, the special operation which began the Afghan war. According to many Russian sources of information (including the memoirs of the Alpha and other compounds' officers that took part in the seizure), the operation was called «Шторм-333» (
English: "Storm-333"). Jointly with the Alpha group, called «Ð"ром» (
English:Thunder) in that time, which consisted of 24 troops, in the operation took part another special KGB group: «Зенит»(
English:Zenith) — 30 troops. Also from the
USSR Ministry of Defense in the operation participated so called
Muslim battalion — 520 troops (which consisted exclusively of the soldiers from the southern republics of the
USSR) and one
Air Landing company—100 troops. In the operation Alpha group lost 2 troops, Zenith group lost 3 troops, Muslim battalion — 5 troops and the Air Landing company — 9 troops; more than 50 were wounded. The Afghan president,
Hafizullah Amin and his approximately 200 elite guards were killed. During the operation also other governmental buildings such as the Ministry of Interior building, the Internal Security (
KHAD) building and the General Staff building (
Darul Aman Palace) were seized. Alpha group's
veterans call this operation one of the most successful in the group's history.
During October 1985, Alpha was dispatched to Beirut when four Russian diplomats had been taken hostage by militant Sunni Muslims. By the time Alpha was onsite, one of the hostages had already been killed. The perpetrators and their relatives were identified by supporting KGB operatives, and the latter were taken hostage. Following the standard policy of 'no negotiation', Alpha proceeded to sever some of their hostages' body parts and sent them to the perpetrators with a warning that more would follow if the Russian hostages were not released immediately. The tactic was a success and no other Russian national has been taken hostage in the Middle East since.
During the
Soviet coup attempt of 1991 the Alpha group (under the command of Major General Viktor Karpukhin) was assigned the task of entering the
White House, Russia's parliament building, and killing
Boris Yeltsin and the other Russian leaders following a planned assault on the entrance by paratroopers. This order was unanimously refused.
Alpha Group served extensively in the
Soviet war in Afghanistan. The unit continued to exist after the collapse of the
Soviet Union and has been used in a variety of crisis situations such as the
Moscow Theatre Siege of 2002 and the
Beslan school hostage crisis of 2004.
The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, Basic Books, 1999, hardcover edition, ISBN 0-465-00310-9, pages 389-391.
The Spycraft Manual: The Insider's Guide to Espionage Techniques, Barry Davies, Carlton Books, 2005, softcover edition, ISBN 1-84442-577-0, page 108.
* http://faq.guns.ru/amin.html (in Russian), some memoirs of the Amin's palace seizure veterans
