In 1810 and later renamed). Prior to that, there was a Secret Order or Order of Secret Affairs, founded under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in which intelligence activities for military and military-political information were concentrated.

In February 1921, in order to create a single command and control body for the armed forces, the Field Headquarters of the RVSR was merged with the All-Russian Headquarters into the Headquarters of the Red Army. The register became part of the newly formed body.

In April 1921, the Registration Directorate was transformed into (Razvedupr) with the inclusion of the military intelligence department in it. The relevant Regulations determined that this structure is the central body of military intelligence both in wartime and in peacetime.

In 1921-1925, the Razvedupr carried out the so-called "active intelligence" - it led the actions of pro-Soviet partisan detachments in the territories of states neighboring Soviet Russia and the USSR.

In November 1922, the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters was reorganized into Intelligence Department of the Office of the 1st Assistant Chief of Staff of the Red Army with a significant narrowing of functions and a reduction in staffing.

In 1924 Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters was recreated.

In September 1926, the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters was renamed IV Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters.

In August 1934, the IV Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters was renamed Information and Statistical Directorate of the Red Army, which in turn was in November 1934 transferred to the direct subordination of the People's Commissar of Defense and renamed Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army.

In May 1939, the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army was transformed into 5th Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR.

In July 1940, the 5th Directorate was again transferred to the control of the General Staff and received the name.

February 16, 1942 by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army was reorganized in with a corresponding change in structure and staffing.

Order on the reorganization of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army into the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army No. 0033 February 16, 1942.
1. Reorganize the 5th Directorate of the Red Army into the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army.
2. To appoint: Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, he is also the Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Major General of the Tank Forces Panfilov A.N.
Military Commissar of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army Brigadier Commissar Ilyichev I.I.
3. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army shall include:
1st Directorate (undercover) with departments:
1st Division (German)
2nd Division (European)
3rd department (Far East)
4th Division (Middle East)
5th department (sabotage)
6th department (front [new], army and district intelligence)
7th department (operational equipment)
8th department (undercover communications and radio intelligence)
2nd Directorate (information) with departments:
1st Division (German)
2nd Division (European)
3rd department (Far East)
4th Division (Middle East)
5th Department (Editorial and Publishing)
6th department (military information)
7th department (decryption)
Departments of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army:
Political
foreign relations
special connection
Special assignments
Personnel
military censorship
Control and financial
Logistics.
4. Complete the reorganization by February 20, 1942.

F. 4, op. 11, d. 67, l. 73-74. Script.

On October 23, 1942, by order of the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, the Main Intelligence Directorate was transferred from subordination to the General Staff to direct subordination to the People's Commissar of Defense. The GRU was entrusted with the conduct of all undercover intelligence and sabotage activities both abroad and in the occupied territory of the USSR. At the same time, the General Staff was formed Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff, which led the work of front-line intelligence agencies and military intelligence. Conducting undercover intelligence to the newly formed department was prohibited. This division of functions between the two intelligence services quickly proved to be ineffective. By order of the People's Commissar of Defense of April 19, 1943, the Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff was renamed Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, and he was given the leadership of undercover work and sabotage activities in the occupied territory of the USSR. The GRU of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR retained only the conduct of undercover intelligence abroad.

In June 1945, the GRU of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR and the RU of the General Staff were again merged into Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army.

In September 1947, in connection with the reorganization of the intelligence services of the USSR, the GRU of the General Staff was abolished. Most of its functions and employees were transferred to the newly formed Committee of Information, which combined the military and political (intelligence of the USSR Ministry of State Security) intelligence services in one structure. To manage the military intelligence bodies left in the Armed Forces, a relatively small Intelligence and sabotage service.

In January 1949, in connection with the return of the functions of leading military intelligence to the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR, it was restored Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

In 1963, in connection with the "Penkovsky case", the GRU was removed from subordination to the General Staff and became an independent department - GRU USSR.

It can be safely called the most popular military units in Russia. Dozens of films have been made about him, hundreds of books and articles have been written on the Internet. The Russian GRU Spetsnaz is the real elite of the armed forces - although, as a rule, film scripts have little relation to reality.

Only the very best get into the special forces, and in order to be enrolled in this unit, candidates must pass a tough selection. The usual training of the GRU special forces can shock the average man in the street - special attention is paid to the physical and psychological preparation of the special forces.

Real operations in which army special forces took part are usually not reported on TV or written in newspapers. Media hype usually means mission failure, and GRU spetsnaz failures are relatively rare.

Unlike special units of other law enforcement agencies, the special forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate do not have their own name, and generally prefer to operate without publicity. During operations, they can wear the uniform of any army in the world, and the globe depicted on the emblem of military intelligence means that the GRU special forces can operate anywhere in the world.

GRU Spetsnaz is the "eyes and ears" of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, and often an effective tool for various "delicate" operations. However, before continuing the story about the special forces and its everyday life, it should be said what the Main Intelligence Directorate is and about the history of the special units that are part of it.

GRU

The need to create a special body that would deal with intelligence in the interests of the military became obvious almost immediately after the formation of the Red Army. In November 1918, the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Council of the Republic was created, which included the Registration Department, which was engaged in the collection and processing of intelligence information. This structure provided the work of undercover intelligence of the Red Army and was engaged in counterintelligence activities.

The order to create the Field Headquarters (and with it the Registration Office) was dated November 5, 1918, so this date is considered the birthday of Soviet and Russian military intelligence.

However, one should not think that before the revolution of 1917 in Russia there were no structures that collected information in the interests of the military department. The same can be said about special military units that performed special, specific tasks.

Back in the 16th century, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible established a guard service, which recruited Cossacks who were distinguished by good physical health, excellent skills in handling firearms and edged weapons. Their task was to monitor the territory of the "Wild Field", from which the raids of the Tatars and Nogais constantly came to the Moscow kingdom.

Later, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the Secret Order was organized, collecting military information about potential opponents.

During the reign of Alexander I (in 1817), a detachment of mounted gendarmes was formed, which today would be called a rapid reaction unit. Their main task was to maintain order within the state. In the middle of the 19th century, reconnaissance and sabotage battalions were formed in the Russian army, consisting of Cossack scouts.

There were also units in the Russian Empire that resembled modern army special forces. In 1764, on the initiative of Suvorov, Kutuzov and Panin, detachments of rangers were created that could carry out operations separately from the main forces of the army: raids, ambushes, fight the enemy in difficult terrain (mountains, forests).

In 1810, on the initiative of Barclay de Tolly, a Special Expedition (or Expedition of Secret Affairs) was created.

In 1921, the Intelligence Directorate of the Headquarters of the Red Army was formed on the basis of the Registration Directorate. The order on the creation of a new body indicated that the Intelligence Agency was engaged in military intelligence both in peacetime and in wartime. In the 1920s, the department carried out undercover intelligence, created pro-Soviet partisan detachments in the territories of neighboring countries, and carried out active subversive activities.

Having survived several reorganizations, in 1934 the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army became directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR. Soviet saboteurs and military advisers successfully operated in the Spanish war. At the end of the 1930s, the roller of political repressions thoroughly walked through the Soviet military intelligence, many officers were arrested and shot.

On February 16, 1942, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Red Army was formed, under this name the organization existed for more than sixty years. After the war, the GRU General Staff was abolished for several years, but in 1949 it was restored again.

On October 24, 1950, a secret directive was issued on the creation of special units (SpN) that would be engaged in reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines. Almost immediately, similar units were formed in all military districts of the USSR (a total of 46 companies of 120 people each). Later, spetsnaz brigades formed on their basis. The first one was established in 1962. In 1968, the first special forces training regiment appeared (near Pskov), in 1970 the second was formed near Tashkent.

Initially, special forces were prepared for the war with the NATO bloc. After the start (or before it) of hostilities, the scouts had to operate deep behind enemy lines, collect information and transfer it to the Main Intelligence Directorate, act against enemy headquarters and other control points, commit sabotage and terrorist attacks, sow panic among the population, destroy infrastructure . Particular attention was paid to weapons of mass destruction of the enemy: missile silos and launchers, strategic aviation airfields, and submarine bases.

Special units of the GRU actively participated in the Afghan War, special forces units played an important role in suppressing separatism in the North Caucasus. GRU special forces were also involved in the civil war in Tajikistan and in the 2008 war against Georgia. There is information that some parts of the Special Forces are currently located on the territory of Syria.

At present, the Main Intelligence Directorate is not only sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The GRU is actively engaged in undercover intelligence, gathering information in cyberspace, and using electronic and space intelligence. Russian military intelligence officers successfully use information warfare methods, work with foreign political forces and individual politicians.

In 2010, the Main Intelligence Directorate was renamed the Main Directorate of the General Staff, but the old name is still more famous and popular.

The structure and composition of the GRU Spetsnaz

• The 2nd Separate Special Purpose Brigade is part of the Western Military District.
• The 3rd Guards Separate GRU Brigade (Central Military District) was created in 1966 in Tolyatti. However, there is information about its disbandment.
• 10th Mountain Separate Brigade of the GRU of the North Caucasian Military District. It was formed in 2003 in the village of Molpino, Krasnodar Territory.
• 14th separate brigade of the GRU. It is part of the Far Eastern District, was formed in 1966. The soldiers of this unit took an active part in the fighting in Afghanistan. The 14th brigade went through both Chechen campaigns.
• The 16th Special Purpose Brigade is part of the Western Military District. Formed in 1963. Participated in both Chechen campaigns, in peacekeeping operations, guarded especially important objects on the territory of Tajikistan in the early 90s.
• 22nd Guards Separate Special Purpose Brigade. Part of the Southern Military District. It was formed in 1976 in Kazakhstan. She took an active part in the Afghan war. It is the first military unit to receive the rank of Guards after the end of World War II.
• 24th separate brigade of the GRU. Part of the Central Military District. The brigade participated in the Afghan war, in the fighting in the North Caucasus.
• 346th Separate Special Purpose Brigade. Southern Military District, town of Prokhladny, Kabardino-Balkaria.
• 25th Separate Special Purpose Regiment, part of the Southern Military District.

Also subordinate to the GRU are four reconnaissance maritime points: in the Pacific, Black, Baltic and Northern Fleets.

The total number of GRU special forces units is not exactly known. Different figures are called: from six to fifteen thousand people.

Training and arming of the GRU special forces

Who can get into the GRU special forces? What are the requirements for candidates?

It is rather difficult to get into the special forces, but not impossible.

First of all, the candidate must be in absolute physical health. It is not necessary to differ in impressive dimensions, in special forces endurance is much more important. Scouts during a raid can cover many tens of kilometers in a day, and they do it by no means lightly. You have to carry many kilograms of weapons, ammunition and ammunition on your own.

The applicant will have to pass the required minimum: run three kilometers in 10 minutes, pull up 25 times, run a hundred meters in 12 seconds, push up 90 times from the floor, do 90 abdominal exercises in 2 minutes. One of the physical standards is hand-to-hand combat.

Naturally, all candidates undergo the most thorough and scrupulous medical examination.

In addition to physical fitness, the psychological health of the applicant is no less important: a commando must be absolutely “stress-resistant” and not lose his head even in the most difficult situation. Therefore, candidates must pass an interview with a psychologist, followed by a lie detector test. Moreover, the relevant authorities carefully check all the relatives of the future intelligence officer, and parents are required to give written consent to the service of their son in special forces.

If a person still got into the special forces, he will have many months of hard training. Fighters are trained in hand-to-hand combat, which greatly enhances the spirit and strengthens the character. A special forces soldier must be able to fight not only with his bare hands, but also use various various objects in battle, sometimes not at all intended for combat use. A recruit is often placed against stronger opponents (and sometimes even several), in which case it is important for him not even to defeat him, but to hold out as long as possible.

From the very beginning of training, future special forces soldiers are instilled with the idea that they are the best.

Future special forces soldiers learn to endure the most severe tests on the verge of physical capabilities: long-term deprivation of sleep, food, extreme physical exertion, psychological pressure. Naturally, in the special forces, future fighters are trained to master all types of small arms.

Despite the "international" specifics of the tasks performed by the GRU special forces, its fighters most often use standard weapons of the Russian army.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

Spy secrets of the GRU. Not the same Suvorov and the same Ivashutin

Two portraits for the Day of the military intelligence officer

After the October Revolution of 1917, all the military attachés of the tsarist army refused to cooperate with the new government. November 5, 1918 of the year as part of the newly-baked Field Headquarters, by order of the Revolutionary Military Council, a Registration Directorate was formed, which was charged with the duty to obtain information about the enemy. From this day on, the current history leads its Main Intelligence Directorate(GRU).

GRU- a self-sufficient organization, which includes undercover, strategic, space, electronic and military intelligence; there are illegal immigrants; own research institutes and laboratories; educational institutions and special forces brigades. Special forces listen to the air of the whole world in all frequency bands, the department directs military attaches at embassies. There is no other intelligence agency like it in the world. In , for example, all these functions are scattered across more than a dozen organizations.

Silence of the Aquarium

Any intelligence is taciturn, but GRU- one of the most silent and closed organizations. Almost every second veteran of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) wrote a book of memoirs. In military intelligence, there are three or four such people, and even then, their memoirs have gone through so many filters that there is no need to hope for revelations. At one time I managed to work in the special archive of the GRU. I was a correspondent for Krasnaya Zvezda, wore epaulettes, had access to secret documents under form No. 1, and they also believed me. Without this belief, it is impossible to work in intelligence, because it is often simply unrealistic to check a person.

In one of the offices "Aquarium"(9-story building of the headquarters of the GRU General Staff of the Armed Forces, mostly with glass walls in the area of ​​​​old Khodynka) an elegant and at the same time simply dressed man, who introduced himself as Vasily Vladimirovich, asked me what I would like to know about a certain person. “Everything,” I answer. “It's impossible, and it's useless,” says Vasily Vladimirovich, not letting go of his briefcase with a zipper. Then he names the date until which the documents are not subject to declassification. It would take a very long time. And then I start asking questions. A well-trained professional who has never been on a long foreign business trip, my interlocutor answers, it seems to me, willingly. But rounded, streamlined, literary phrases stop all my questions at a certain point, pique my curiosity even more.

Receiving stingy explanations “not for publication”, I involuntarily accept this manner of speaking and I myself begin to fear that my interlocutor would say something superfluous. Vladimir silently looks through the case materials printed on a typewriter. Having found what he needs, he makes bookmarks and turns a thick volume towards me, thus showing what can be read and what cannot. Sometimes he puts standard sheets of paper on the case page, leaving one or two paragraphs to read. If I, carried away, try to go further, his hand gently rests on the sheet: “It’s better not to know this - you will sleep more peacefully.”

GRU known to the general public by a few names. I'll stick with two. From the army Petr Ivashutin I met shortly before his death. I still communicate with the writer Viktor Suvorov, however, only by phone.

Strong analyst, weak operative

Our acquaintance with the traitor writer Viktor Suvorov(aka Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun) took place after the publication in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper of my interview with the then head of the GRU, Colonel-General Yevgeny Timokhin. In it, the general and I "walked" through Suvorov, as the author of the sensational book "". The next day, Rezun called me from Bristol. I think, among other reasons for this call, was gratitude for my involuntary advertising in the newspaper, which was then published in large circulation. Since then, for two decades, he has certainly congratulated me on the phone on my birthday and I answer the same. In the copy of his book he gave me, he wrote: "To my honest adversary". Thus, facilitating my answers to the perplexed questions of GRU friends I know, which “connects me with this ...”

Captain Rezun fled with his family to England with the help of MI6 from Geneva, where he worked under the cover of a diplomat at the UN headquarters. He fled, as he claims, in order to write the truth: it was not Hitler who started it, but Stalin. Since then, his books - "Icebreaker", "M Day", "Control", "Choice" have been published in huge circulation. The whole world is full of both supporters and opponents of this man.

In the Intelligence Directorate, they told me that Rezun was a strong analyst, but a useless operative - he trembled like an aspen leaf during hiding operations. “The enemies call me all sorts of bad words,” he recklessly replies to his opponents, “but they do not cross the boundaries of normative vocabulary. And you guys, do not be shy ... He left the squad, betrayed the Soviet Motherland, violated the sacred oath. But here’s what I don’t understand: you, all the rest in the amount of three hundred million, why did you follow me?

After the revelations of the former intelligence officer Rezun, a lot of unexpected versions related to our recent history appeared. They started talking about things that had previously been hushed up. For example, about an attempt to return to the USSR the Armenian lands torn away by Turkey. Truman decided to drop atomic bombs on Japan after three Soviet armies advanced to the border with Turkey in the Tabriz region. And allegedly after the atomic bombings he said: "The campaign against Istanbul is cancelled." Or such either versions, or revealed facts: as if Nazi Germany was developing minerals in Antarctica, having base No. 211 there. Or the assertion that Israel won in the Arab-Israeli war of 1949 because the USSR was on its side (with its state anti-Semitism!).

Suvorov "Aquarium" begins with the scene of the burning in the oven on the territory of the GRU of a colonel of the Soviet military intelligence, convicted of treason. In the course of an interview with the head of the GRU, I could not help but ask him what was true in this scene and what was fiction. The owner of the office led me to the window and pointed to the only pipe towering over the territory. Then I called and ordered him to accompany me to the "crematorium". It turned out that the oven was designed for burning documents, and its mouth is so narrow that even the most slender colonel, and even more so, tied to a stretcher, as Rezun writes, would not have climbed into it.

Autumn of the patriarch at the former state dacha

A few years ago, on the eve of the Day of the military intelligence officer, at the Troekurovsky cemetery on the grave of Pyotr Ivanovich Ivashutina, Hero of the Soviet Union, army general, former chief of the General Staff, unveiled a monument. Only our own people were present - the leadership of the GRU, veterans, relatives. From journalists - only your humble servant. Ivashutin led GRU almost a quarter of a century, outlived three general secretaries. To compete with him as the head of a powerful intelligence agency for many years, only Edgar Hoover, who directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation for almost half a century, can compete with him. However, if we add about a quarter of a century of Ivashutin's service in the Soviet counterintelligence, including in Smershe, Hoover is in second place.

After the exposure of Oleg Penkovsky, the head of the GRU, General of the Army Ivan Serov, was removed from his post, demoted to major general and deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Ivashutin, as his adjutant Igor Popov told me, asked to join the GRU himself. In 1962, Pyotr Ivanovich traveled to Novocherkassk as part of a government commission headed by Anastas Mikoyan to quell the unrest of the workers of the electric locomotive plant. Extinguished by gunfire. Ivashutin proposed other, more humane measures to influence the instigators and organizers of the riots, but at the top they preferred harsh reprisals. Less than a year after the events in Novocherkassk, he asked for a transfer.

It was under Ivashutin GRU acquired power, diversity and deaf secrecy, which it still possesses today. With him in November 1963 in Cuba, in the town Lourdes a special group of electronic intelligence "Reed" was created, in 1969 the first reconnaissance ship went on a military campaign "Crimea", and then the "Caucasus", "Primorye" and "Transbaikalia" were built. Under Ivashutin, an automated military intelligence system was created under the code name "Watch", in one of the districts a complex of electronic intelligence appeared "Ramona". The years of command of Pyotr Ivanovich in the GRU are called the "epoch of Ivashutin."

On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the patriarch of military intelligence, I, accompanied by two GRU officers, went to the dacha to celebrate the hero of the day. A panel, very modest house, built back in the Khrushchev years. In 1992, officials set a condition for the owner: either buy the state dacha or move out. They demanded, as Pyotr Ivanovich said, at that time the amount. He did not have even a tenth of what he needed on his passbook. He sold the guns, added the fur coats of his wife and daughter to them - bought them back.

For Petr Ivanovich, this was the first meeting with a journalist, as such. He talked with writers: with Vasily Ardamatsky, Yulian Semyonov, Vadim Kozhevnikov, but no one has interviewed yet. I was first and last. The original of this interview was coordinated for a long time in the GRU, after which I was informed of the decision: "Premature". Annoyed, he put the cassettes on the back burner and now returned to recording, bypassing delicate moments.

By the time of our conversation, Pyotr Ivanovich was already almost blind, scolding ophthalmologists for an unsuccessful operation. He spoke slowly, for a long time, describing any episode in detail. I will focus on a few.

Retired kings and diamond traitors

In 1945, Ivashutin was most directly involved in the removal of the Romanian king from power. Mihai. “A 26-year-old pilot, a boatman, a favorite of the ladies-in-waiting, about a dozen of whom he took with him, Mihai did not really think about power,” said Pyotr Ivanovich. - But his mother Elizabeth was a smart and cunning woman. More politician than himself. The task of the secret services was to make the leader of the Communist Party, Gheorghe Georgiou-Deja, famous, popular and put him at the head of the state. For this, the name day of the front commander Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin was played (although, in fact, there was nothing like that), they were invited to the celebration Mihai, awarded him the Order of Victory, returned to him a luxurious yacht, previously hijacked from Constanta to Odessa, and, under a good treat, slipped a draft decree on awarding Georgiou-Dej with the highest Romanian order. All the newspapers reported it. Mihai was told that he could not lead the new communist government and could not remove his royal title either. Mihai loaded the property into wagons, first went to Switzerland, then moved to Belgium.”

Or such a memory of Ivashutin. In the post-war at the commander of the Soviet grouping of troops, General Vasily Chuikov nearly kidnapped their six-year-old son. Moreover, his housekeeper from repatriates. The fact is that this woman in the western sector of Berlin had a daughter under arrest. The occupation authorities set a condition: you bring the son of the commander - you get your daughter. The military guard overslept the situation. A woman with a bundle of things and a boy was noticed by Ivashutin's subordinate, a detective who lived in a neighboring house. Ivashutin called Chuikov, he rushed in, personally interrogated the thief and even, unable to restrain himself, hit her in the face.

Some well-known stories sounded in the interpretation of Pyotr Ivanovich somewhat differently than in the official versions. For example, the case of digging under the Berlin Wall and joining our communications communications, which was reported to Soviet intelligence by George Blake. It is believed that the Soviet side pretended that nothing had happened, and for quite a long time drove disinformation to the other side. As Ivashutin said, his Smershev subordinates really reached the wall, discovered a patern (equipped tunnel), through which, crouching slightly, a person could pass. They really wanted to start a combination with disinformation or walk along the pattern to the station and blow it up. But the German colleagues, headed by the Minister of Security, took over the operation: the cable was cut off, and the paterna was blown up.

Ivashutin can also be considered the guardian of the so-called Muslim battalion (500 soldiers and officers of three nationalities - Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmens), which, in fact, took the beautifully fortified palace of Hafizullah Amin. The main burden of the operation fell on the battalion. Group « » , to which the newspapermen gave all the glory, only cleaned the palace from the inside.

Under the supervision of the patriarch of military intelligence, a reconnaissance and sabotage formation was created in 1971 "Dolphin", the scope of which was the underwater environment. When two combat swimmers died near the Soviet Cam Ranh base in Vietnam during an examination of an American aircraft carrier after meeting with specially trained dolphins, Pyotr Ivanovich insisted on creating a similar nursery on.

told Ivashutin and about how our failed intelligence officers were pulled out of prisons, in how many states there were residencies GRU in the best years, how they supported revolutionary movements by transferring large sums of money to them through intelligence, how they prepared documents according to which the leaders of these movements came to Moscow to undergo training, how they took out the latest American 105-mm gun, dragged the wife and son of a famous physics Bruno Pontecorvo.

They did not bypass the topic of betrayal, including the high-profile case of General Dmitry Polyakova. Back in 1962, while on a business trip to, he offered his services to the FBI. For a quarter of a century, Polyakov worked for the American special services - first for, and then for, rose to the rank of resident GRU. "Tophat", "Bourbon", "Donald" - these are just some of the operational aliases of this dexterous, intelligent, cold-blooded and cynical professional. Polyakov issued 19 illegal immigrants, more than one and a half hundred agents from among foreigners and revealed belonging to the Soviet military intelligence about 1500 human. Behind these figures are broken human destinies, often death. The then chief of the CIA Woolsey called the traitor general " diamond».

From the first meeting, Ivashutin had an intuitive distrust of this “diamond”: “He sits without raising his head, will not turn in my direction. I didn't let him go abroad again." The head of the personnel department of the GRU, Izotov, a former employee of the Central Committee, took Polyakov to his department for the selection of civilians. Ivashutin ordered Polyakov to be transferred to military intelligence, where there are no agents and, therefore, less secrets. Polyakov worked there for about seven years. And during one of the business trips of the head of the GRU, Polyakov was seconded to the military attaché. The order was signed by Ivashutin's deputy Meshcheryakov. In India Polyakov and uncovered.

Pyotr Ivanovich called the Englishman Thomas Lawrence an example to follow and a great intelligence officer: “In his memoirs, he wrote: a person who dipped his fingers into intelligence will not die by his own death. I exaggerated, of course."

By the end of our four-hour conversation, Ivashutin's wife, Maria Alekseevna, brought a cake for tea. The once almighty man, who was known and feared by all intelligence agencies of the world, reached for a piece and, having got his fingers into a multi-colored cream, became embarrassed. And I felt sorry for the blind old man to the pain in my eyes.

Book truths and golden letters

with Igor Alexandrovich Popov, Ivashutin's adjutant, we met when we went to Pyotr Ivanovich's dacha. Igor came to the GRU together with Ivashutin, served with the general back in the KGB and clearly yearned for his patron after his death. In his memories he was frank. “Residents, military attachés, ambassadors after business trips, military leaders came to see Pyotr Ivanovich,” says Igor. - Once Vasily came to the reception Stalin. This was just before his exile to Kazan. He was in a tunic without shoulder straps and with shining gold buttons with an image. I have never seen such buttons before or since. I even thought they were really golden. I did not order a pass for Vasily. Apparently, someone from the leadership brought it. Stalin looked extremely tired, dejected, although he was sober, which rarely happened to him then.

When there was talk about Polyakov, Igor Alexandrovich led me to two half-meter figurines of English colonial soldiers in India hanging on the wall, skillfully carved from expensive wood. “His gift,” Popov explained. - Apparently, he was taking Peter Ivanovich, but he was away. “Okay,” he tells me, “this is for you.” When it was discovered that Polyakov was a traitor, I was going to burn it. I thought, all of a sudden there was some kind of "bug" for wiretapping installed. He tapped the figurines, examined them - everything is clean. The wife says: “It’s kind of a pity to throw it away, they have taken root here.” So they left it. And then it seemed to me that a radio microphone hidden in the bowels of the colonial soldiers was transmitting our conversation to an unknown spy center.

As for further history "Aquarium", then after Vladimir Putin visited the GRU in November 2002, money was allocated for the repair of the building. The facade and foyer are much prettier. For the first time in history, the name of the organization was laid out on the building in gold letters. They held out for exactly a day, and then were mercilessly shot down. Tradition.

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Russian military intelligence is the most closed structure of the state, the only special service that has not undergone any special changes since 1991. Where did the "bat" come from, which for many years served as the emblem of the military intelligence of the USSR and Russia, and even after the official replacement with a carnation with grenade, did not leave the headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia?

November 5, 1918 is considered to be the birthday of the Russian (in those days, Soviet) intelligence. It was then that the Revolutionary Military Council approved the structure of the Field Headquarters of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic, which included the Registration Directorate, which was then the prototype of today's GRU.
Just imagine: a new department was created on the fragments of the Imperial Army, which in one decade (!!!) acquired one of the largest intelligence networks in the world. Even the terror of the 1930s, which, of course, was a blow of enormous destructive power, did not destroy the Intelligence Directorate. The leadership and the scouts themselves fought for life and the opportunity to work in all ways. A simple example: today Richard Sorge, who has already become a legend of military intelligence, and then a resident of the intelligence department in Japan, simply refused to return to the USSR, knowing that this meant death. Sorge referred to the difficult situation and the inability to leave the seat vacant.
The role played by the activities of military intelligence in the Great War is invaluable. It was almost impossible to imagine that the intelligence department, which had been destroyed for years, would completely outplay the Abwehr, but today it is an established fact. Moreover, we are talking here about military intelligence, and about agents, and about Soviet saboteurs.
For some reason, the fact that the Soviet partisans are also a project of the intelligence department is little known. Detachments behind enemy lines were created by regular officers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The local fighters did not wear the emblems of military intelligence only because it was not advertised at all. The theory and methodology of guerrilla warfare was put in the 50s and the basis of the GRU special forces being created. The basics of training, the methods of warfare, the aim for the speed of movement - everything is in accordance with science. Only now the special forces brigades have become part of the regular army, the range of tasks performed has expanded (the nuclear threat is a priority), special weapons and uniforms are being introduced, on which the symbol of military intelligence is a subject of special pride and a sign of belonging to the “elite of the elite”.
Created and trained to infiltrate the territories of aggressive states, the GRU Spetsnaz units often participated in tasks far from their main profile. Soldiers and officers of the GRU special forces were involved in all military operations in which the Soviet Union took part. Thus, the military personnel of various reconnaissance brigades reinforced many units conducting combat operations. Although these guys no longer served directly under the emblem, but, as you know, there are no former special forces. They remained the best in any of the combat specialties, whether it was a sniper or a grenade launcher and many others.
November 5 acquired its “open” status only on October 12, 2000, when the Military Intelligence Day was established by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 490.

The bat once became the emblem of military intelligence - it makes little noise, but hears everything.

"Mouse" on the chevrons of the GRU special forces soldiers for a very long time, they say that the first here was 12 ObrSpN. For a long time, all this was unofficial, but with the end of the Soviet era, the view of the "separation of duties" in the armed forces has changed. In the elite military units, they began to introduce appropriate insignia, and approved the new official symbols of military intelligence.
In 1993, when the national military intelligence was preparing to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its creation. For this anniversary, someone who is fond of heraldry from among the employees of the GRU1 decided to present a gift to his colleagues in the form of new symbols. This proposal was supported by the head of the GRU, Colonel-General F.I. Ladygin. By that time, as is known, the Airborne Forces, as well as the Russian contingent of peacekeeping forces in Transnistria, had already acquired their own officially approved sleeve insignia (the letters “MS” on a blue rectangular patch). We do not know whether the “heraldists-scouts” and their superiors knew about this or not, but they nevertheless circumvented the law. In the second half of October, the GRU prepared a draft report of the Chief of the General Staff addressed to the Minister of Defense with a description and drawings of two sleeve insignia: for military intelligence agencies and military special forces. October 22 F.I. Ladygin signed it "from the hand" of the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel General
M.P. Kolesnikov, and the next day the Minister of Defense, General of the Army P.S. Grachev approved the descriptions and drawings of sleeve insignia.
So the bat became a symbol of military intelligence and special forces units. The choice was far from random. The bat has always been considered one of the most mysterious and secretive creatures operating under the cover of darkness. Well, secrecy, as you know, is the key to a successful reconnaissance operation.

However, in the GRU, as well as the intelligence departments of the branches of the armed forces, districts and fleets, the sleeve badge approved for them, for obvious reasons, was never worn. But its numerous varieties quickly spread throughout the units and subunits of military, artillery and engineering reconnaissance, as well as anti-sabotage combat. In formations and units for special purposes, various versions of sleeve insignia, made based on the approved pattern, were also widely used.

Each unit of military intelligence has its own unique symbols, these are various variations with a bat, and some specific sleeve patches. Very often, individual units of the Special Forces troops (Special Forces) use predatory animals and birds as their symbol - it all depends on the geographical location and the specifics of the tasks performed. In the photo, the emblem of military intelligence 551 ooSpN symbolizes the wolf detachment, which, by the way, was revered by scouts back in Soviet times, perhaps it was the second in popularity after the “mouse”.

It is believed that the red carnation is “a symbol of perseverance, devotion, inflexibility and determination in achieving the goals”, and the three-flame grenada is “the historical sign of the grenadiers, the most trained military personnel of the elite units

But starting from 1998, the bat began to be gradually supplanted by the new symbol of military intelligence, the red carnation, which was proposed by the famous heraldry artist Yu.V. Abaturov. The symbolism here is extremely clear: carnations were very often used by Soviet intelligence officers as an identification mark. Well, the number of petals on the new emblem of military intelligence is five types of intelligence (ground, air, sea, information, special), five continents on the globe, five senses that are extremely developed in a scout. Initially, she appears on the insignia "For Service in Military Intelligence". In 2000, it becomes an element of a large emblem and a new sleeve insignia of the GRU, and, finally, in 2005, it finally occupies a central place on all heraldic signs, including sleeve patches.
By the way, the innovation initially caused rather a negative reaction among the soldiers and officers of the special forces, but when it became clear that the reform did not mean the eradication of the “mouse”, the storm subsided. The introduction of the new official combined-arms emblem of military intelligence did not affect the popularity of the bat among the fighters of the GRU army units; even a superficial acquaintance with the culture of tattoos in the Special Forces troops is enough here. The bat, as one of the main elements of the symbolism of military intelligence, was established long before 1993 and will probably always remain so.

One way or another, the bat is an emblem that unites all active and retired scouts, it is a symbol of unity and exclusivity. And, in general, it does not matter who we are talking about - about a secret GRU agent somewhere in the army or a sniper from any of the special forces brigades. They all did and are doing one very important and responsible thing.
So, the bat is the main element of the symbolism of Russian military intelligence, even despite the appearance of the “carnation”, it does not give up its positions: this symbol today is not only on chevrons and flags, it has also become an element of soldier folklore.
It is noteworthy that even after the replacement of the "Bat" with the "Red Carnation", not only the special forces and the "pear" did not stop considering the "mice" as their symbol, but the "Bat" was preserved on the floor at the headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate, adjacent to the "Carnation", attached to the wall of the hall.

Today, the 2nd Main Directorate of the General Staff (GRU GSh) is a powerful military organization, the exact composition and organizational structure of which, of course, are a military secret. The current headquarters of the GRU has been operating since November 5, 2006, the facility was commissioned just in time for the holiday, it is here that the most important intelligence information is now coming in, and from here the command of special forces military formations is carried out. The building was designed in accordance with the most modern technologies, not only construction, but also safety - only selected employees can enter many of the "compartments" of the Aquarium. Well, the entrance is decorated with a giant emblem of the military intelligence of the Russian Federation.

Born in 1946. Graduated from the Military Diplomatic Academy under the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. For more than 20 years he worked in the bodies of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces. From 1992 to 1997 he was the first deputy head of the GRU of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. During the hostilities on the territory of the Chechen Republic, he repeatedly traveled to the combat zone. In May 1997, during a medical examination preceding the dismissal of Colonel-General Fyodor Ladygin, he was acting head of the GRU. In May 1997, he was appointed head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces. The former head of the GRU Fedor Ladygin, who held this position from 1992 to 1997, gave the following description of V. Korabelnikov: Intelligence well trained theoretically and having extensive experience in practical activities in various fields, including directly in operational work. As far as I can judge, my assessments turned out to be correct in relation to Colonel General Korabelnikov. It seems to me that he adequately leads the GRU and successfully copes with the tasks assigned to him." On August 20, 1997, he was introduced to the Coordinating Interdepartmental Council for Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states. Since December 31, 1997 - Member of the Supervisory Board for the activities of the Rosvooruzhenie and Promexport companies. In July 1999, V. Korabelnikov received gratitude from President B. Yeltsin for his significant contribution to the process of resolving the conflict in the Yugoslav region of Kosovo. September 6, 1999 was included in the Commission under the President of the Russian Federation on military-technical cooperation with foreign states. Married.