Alpha Group

Spetsgruppa A
Active	Since July 28, 1974
Country	Soviet Union Russian Federation
Branch	Spetsnaz Federal Security Service
Role	Counter-terrorism

Alpha Group (also called the Alfa Group or Spetsgruppa A) is an elite, stand-alone component of Russia's special forces and the dedicated counter-terrorism task-force of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). With an emphasis on hostage rescue and counter-terrorism operations, Alpha Group's use of small unit military tactics makes it comparable to many other special forces units across the world. Selected organizations include Germany's Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) and the United Kingdom's Special Air Service (SAS), as well as SEAL Team Six (DEVGRU) and Delta Force (1st SFOD-D) of the US Navy and Army, respectively.

Function

Alpha Group is organized under the "A" Directorate of the FSB Special Operations Center (TsSN FSB), and tasked specifically with responding, preventing, and thwarting acts of terrorism. Group members are often requested by other sections of the FSB in order to provide operational guidance in situations that are either unique or highly complex in nature. Regional deployments to conflict-prone areas (such as Chechnya) are not uncommon. Although little is known about the exact nature of Alpha Group's primary directives, it is speculated that the unit is authorized to act under the direct control and sanction of Russia's political leadership. If this be the case, the group would be similar in practice to the "B" Directorate's secretive Vympel unit, and would strongly imply that Alpha Group is at once available for expanded police duties, essentially paramilitary applications, and/or additional covert military operations.

Training and equipment

The selection and training process for members of Alpha Group is limited to the public, but the unit is assumed to have access to small arms from foreign and domestic suppliers, and possess long-range marksmen, emergency medical staff, expert demolition technicians, dedicated intelligence gathering services, and various other functions that are typical of both civilian SWAT teams and the special operations community in general. Currently, however, it is unknown whether Alpha Group maintains any hostage negotiators.

Alpha Group has also shown a willingness to utilize chemical agents, such as during the 2002 Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis, and attests to the ability of their operatives to function in environments contaminated by hazardous materials.

History

Soviet Union

On the orders of Yuri Andropov, then Chairman of the KGB, Group A, or "Alfa Group," was created on 28 July 1974 in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. By attaching a Spetsnaz unit to the office of the First Chief Directorate, it was hoped that the Soviet Union's defensive capacity against terrorist attack would increase significantly. Initially, this special-purposed counter-terrorism unit was involved in delicate operations that necessitated its members' unique skill set, such as the 1983 hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833. Soon, however, this newly constituted task force was assigned missions that far exceeded its traditional scope, including the 1985 arrest of CIA spy Adolf Tolkachev.

Arguably, the group's most notable mission during the Soviet period occurred on 27 December 1979, when Soviet forces launched a surprise attack on the home of Hafizullah Amin, President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, at Tajbeg Palace. Given the operational name Storm-333 and involving a combination of Spetsnaz, GRU, KGB, and Soviet paratroopers were a total of 24 men from the «Гром» ("Thunder") detachment of Alpha Group. According to Russian sources the members of this special-purposed and highly-trained unit performed remarkably well and lost only two men; the lightest casualties of all forces involved in the raid. The operation itself was also a decisive strategic victory, as Soviet forces were able to secure important governmental institutions such as Ministry of the Interior, the headquarters of the Government Information Agency (KHAD), Darul Aman Palace, and successfully eliminated President Amin. However, the success of Storm-333 also marked the beginning of the Soviet War in Afghanistan, and subsequently, Alpha Group's extensive involvement throughout it.

Almost six year later, in October 1985, Alpha Group would be dispatched to Beirut, Lebanon after the Kremlin was informed that four Soviet diplomats had been taken hostage by a Sunni extremist group. By the time Alpha was on-site, word had spread that one of the hostages had already been killed. Through a network of supporting KGB operatives, members of the task-force were able to successfully identify each of the perpetrators involved in the crisis, and once discovered, began to take the individual relatives of the extremists hostage. Following the standard Soviet policy of "no negotiation with terrorists," the hostages belonging to Alpha Group had some of their body parts cut off and sent directly to the Sunni militants. The warning was quite clear: more would follow unless the remaining hostages were released immediately. The show of force worked, and for a period of twenty years no Soviet or Russian officials were taken captive until the 2006 abduction and murder of four Russian embassy staff members in Iraq. However, the veracity of this story is open to debate. Russian journalist Vyzcheslav Lashkul has denied Alpha Group's involvement in the practice of torture, and instead claims that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the alleged backer of the hostage-takers, Hezbollah spiritual leader Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.

On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR made public its intent to secede from the Soviet Union and re-establish the independent Republic of Lithuania. As a result of this pronouncement, on 9 January 1991, the Soviet Union dispatched the Alpha Group to quell the nationalist uprising and maintain Lithuania's status as a satellite state. However, this dilatory and misguided attempt to re-establish Soviet dominance culminated in the bloody seizure of the State Radio and Television Building as well as the Vilnius TV Tower on 13 January 1991. The resulting violence injured an estimated 1,000 Lithuanian civilians, killing at least fourteen of them, and also caused the death of one operative from Alpha Group.

1991 Soviet Coup Attempt

On 20 August, during the events of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Major General Viktor Karpukhin, Alpha Group's commanding officer and decorated Hero of the Soviet Union was, by the oral command of KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, tasked with forcibly entering the White House, Russia's acting parliament at the time, after a planned assault on the entrance by paratroopers, in order to kill Boris Yeltsin and various other leaders assembled there. In addition to Alpha Group, General Karpukhin was also given authority of Vega Group (Vympel), elements of the Soviet Airborne, internal security units of the Dzerzhinsky Division (OMSDON), mobilized units of the Moscow OMON, three tank companies, and a squadron of helicopters. On-site analysis of the area was conducted by General Karapuhkin, Airborne deputy commander General Alexander Lebed, and other senior officers who mingled with the crowds nearest to the White House. There seems to be a general consensus among the military officials who gathered that day, as evidenced by their statements some months after the botched coup attempt, that had they followed through on their endeavor it would have succeeded. The stated mission objectives could have been reached in no more than half-an-hour, but it would have come at a terrible human cost. Shortly after their assessment was made, General Karpukhin and Colonel Beskov, the commanders of Alpha and Vega Groups respectively, tried to convince KGB General Ageyev that such a massive undertaking should be cancelled, as it would result in unnecessary loss-of-life.

Russian Federation

According to some Russian military sources, Alpha Group was "degraded" and demoralized by the political manipulation it suffered in the vicious political battles that surrounded the eventual dissolution and collapse of the Soviet Union. The KGB wished to use the organization in its hardline campaign against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, and the first elected President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, was also guilty of using it to shell the White House in Moscow during the constitutional crisis of 1993. Following the crisis, both Alpha Group and Vega Group (Vympel) were briefly put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).

Today, Alpha Group is still utilized by the government of the Russian Federation in its official capacity as a dedicated counter-terrorism unit. However, several, considered by the western public highly controversial, actions in the recent past have somewhat tarnished Alpha Group's image abroad, making the organization especially susceptible to criticism when the issue revolves around hostages lives. Examples of this include the employment of an unknown chemical agent to assist Alpha Group operators end the Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis in 2002, resulting in elimination of the hostage takers and the deaths of an additional 129 hostages due to badly organized medical treatment afterwards, yet was hailed by members of the organization as "our first successful operation for years."

Since 1995, Alpha Group has also come under scrutiny for its involvement in both the First Chechen War between 1994–96, as well as the Second Chechen War between 1999-2009.

Use in popular culture

• The political-simulation video game Republic: The Revolution features the Alpha Squad, first as an action taken by the corrupt President of Novistrana against the "Democracy Now" party, and then against his most dangerous enemies. Later in the game, it becomes an action that can be used by the player's character, as long as his level is high enough. Alpha Squad members dress entirely in black, and wear gas masks. They also carry weapons.
• In the 2010 film Predators by Nimrod Antal, Oleg Taktarov portrays Nikolai, a commando from the Spetsnaz Alpha Group who was fighting in the Second Chechen War before finding himself on the alien planet.
• A game called ALFA: Antiterror was developed by Russian game developer MiST Land South in 2005.
• A character named Sergei was included in Andy McNab's novel Firewall, who was mentioned as being a former member of Alpha Force.

See also

• Spetsnaz
• Vympel
• Rus
• Vityaz
• Spetsnaz GRU

References

• Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (1999). The sword and the shield: the Mitrokhin archive and the secret history of the KGB. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00310-9. , pages 389-391
• Barry Davies, (2005). The Spycraft Manual: the insider's guide to espionage techniques. Carlton Books Ltd. ISBN 1-84442-577-0. 
• David Satter (2001). Age of Delirium: the decline and fall of the Soviet Union. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08705-5. 

External links

• (Russian) Alpha Group veterans association
• (Russian) Alpha Group veterans association newspaper
• (Russian) Memoirs of the Amin's palace seizure veterans
• (Russian) [(Russian) [1]