45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade
The 45th Guards Spetsnaz (Special Purpose) Detached Brigade (Russian: 45-я отдельная гвардейская бригада специального назначения (45-я ОБр СпН); Military Unit Number 28337) is the only spetsnaz unit of the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV), based near Moscow.[1] It was formed in 1994 as the 45th Independent Spetsnaz Regiment, and expanded to a brigade in 2015.[2][3]
45th Guards Special Purpose Detached Brigade
1994–present
Brigade (4 battalions)
GRU (operational subordination)
Побеждает сильнейший
(The strongest wins)
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Col. HoRF Vadim Pankov
Lt. Col. HoRF Anatoly Lebed
Their main role is clandestine operation, direct action, irregular warfare, long-range penetration, and special reconnaissance behind enemy lines. They may also conduct kinetic operations against command and control posts and headquarters, and assassination of political or military leaders.[4]
The unit was created in 1994, as a regiment comprising the 901st Air Assault Battalion and the 218th Spetsnaz Battalion of the Russian Airborne Forces. Colonel Pavel Popovskikh is credited with the creation of the 45th Spetsnaz as a “subunit of the future”, designed to wage the counterinsurgency warfare for which the Russian armed forces had been so ill-prepared in Afghanistan.
The regiment was composed of two special purpose battalions and equipped with 15 BTR-80 and 1 BTR-D:
In 2016, the regiment was upgraded to a brigade and its Spetsnaz companies were tripled from six to eighteen, increasing the capability of the unit from two operational areas to three.[7] The unit is part of the Russian Airborne Forces[8] and directly subordinate to VDV Headquarters. However, it is operationally also subordinate to the GRU.[9]
Training with U.S. Special Forces[edit]
In May 2012, 22 soldiers from the 45th visited Fort Carson, Colorado. While there the 22 soldiers received some training from the US 10th Special Forces Group. The soldiers from the Brigade received courses on operating certain American weapons and becoming familiar with certain American Special Forces tactics. Emphasis was placed on coordination between ground units and other support units for operations, demolitions, destroying terrorist camps, mountain warfare operations, and reconnaissance.[17]
Public relations of the Brigade[edit]
The regiment has staged youth competitions for militarily applicable sports among military patriotic clubs. At different celebrations in Moscow and the Moscow region, it held demonstrations and skydiving performances by paratroopers, with commandos demonstrating hand-to-hand fighting. Every year since 1995, a special operations group, formed on the basis of the regiment, takes part in the international competition among special forces from the United States, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, held in Bulgaria on the Partnership for Peace Program. In 1996, the regiment took the prize-winning group a third place in the overall standings, and the next year became the champion of 1997. Soldiers from the brigade took part in the 2010 Kyiv Victory Day Parade on the Khreshchatyk as part of a joint contingent with the Ukrainian Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky Independent Presidential Guard Regiment.[18][19]
Five military personnel from the regiment have been awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation. Others awarded with orders and medals include:[10]