If you were hoping to join up with Russia’s special forces, then you might have one hell
of a challenge getting through their brutal training regime.
Seriously.
You better be ready for literal blood, guts, and the threat of actual death lingering around
every corner.
The physical and mental requirements to join up with the Spetsnaz are said to be extremely
high, so only the best of the best make it into the Russian military’s special forces
units, and the rest are left bloodied and broken.
In fact, it’s widely believed that this training is some of the toughest, if not the
toughest, in the entire world.
Still think you’ve got what it takes?
Let’s find out.
We’re taking a look at why you wouldn’t survive Russian special forces training.
The training one has to go through in order to become a part of the Spetsnaz – the common
expression for all Russian special forces groups – can only be completed after a hopeful
recruit has already undergone the basic level of military training required of a standard
soldier.
It also involves inflicting a lot of pain.
And we mean a lot – think the worst pain you’ve ever felt, and add a sergeant named
Dmitri kicking you in the groin with a steel-toed combat boot.
If you were hoping to join a Spetsnaz unit, you’d better not be the sort of person who
cries when you stub your toe or get a papercut.
For one, the Spetsnaz training regimen includes completing an assault course.
Sounds easy, right?
Anyone can get through an assault course.
A little mud never hurt anyone, right?
Well, you might think twice about taking your turn when the instructors start shooting at
you with live ammo.
And if you thought that was as bad as it gets, maybe you’ll fare better in the martial
arts classes that are also required to make the cut.
After all, that’s all done on comfy foam mats to break your fall, so you wouldn’t
possibly get hurt doing those!
Think again, comrade.
These aren’t the kind of martial arts classes you can take at your local gym: Spetsnaz classes
use real knives too!
No foam mat is going to stop you getting a nasty stab wound – and if you don’t make
the cut, it’s probably because you literally got cut.
It should come as no surprise that these approaches to training have resulted in a number of recruits
trying to join Spetsnaz units instead receiving some real serious injuries during training.
So, if you have any aversions to accidentally being shot or stabbed, it might just be best
for you to sit this one out and contemplate if this is really the thing for you.
Maybe a job at a local artisanal coffee shop would be more your speed.
No members of the Russian military will try to shoot or stab you there – unless you
really, really mess up their order.
Stories about Russia’s special forces training are nothing if not intense.
According to Victor Suvorov, a former Soviet officer, young recruits are often “driven
out into the mud barefoot, and made to sleep in the lavatories.
They would be beaten with belts, slippers and spoons — anything suitable for causing
pain.”
Various other rumours and reports also state that trainees will sometimes have to navigate
their way through basements that have been covered in blood or wrestle vicious animals
as part of their training, which paints a pretty unappealing picture, sounding more
like something from a horror movie than regimented military conditioning.
We’re not sure how many vicious animals or blood-filled basements your average Russian
Special Forces soldier will encounter on the job – and we’ll go into more detail about
these particular techniques soon – but processes like this are all about desensitising the
potential applicant to violence, fear, and disgust, typically to make them a better killer.
Oh, and speaking of killing: Another skill supposedly taught to recruits hoping to join
Spetsnaz units is the ability to kill their enemies with a shovel.
Not quite the kind that you would use in your backyard, every Russian soldier is issued
a small implement called a ‘saperka’, which is designed to be used for digging trenches.
Unless you’re training to join the Spetsnaz of course, where you’d be encouraged to
use this small shovel as a close-range combat weapon, or even to throw it with enough force
and precision to kill an enemy combatant.
See?
It’s not just for pulling weeds.
There are also a number of reports and photos of Spetsnaz trainees having to fight dogs,
including rumours that recruits will sometimes be locked in a windowless room alone with
an angered, or sometimes rabid, dog.
They’re only given a saperka to defend themselves and given one simple instruction: kill or
be killed.
This horrific treatment of recruits and animals doesn’t end there.
As part of their training, Spetsnaz are taught the bloody and pragmatic art of “sambo”,
which is a form of street fighting that encourages recruits to use any object at their disposal
during a close-quarters fight, including broken bottles and even street signs.
It’s encouraged that trainees use this fighting style when locked up with these dogs, but
it isn’t just the dog that these soldiers have to worry about.
According to Victor Suvorov, who we mentioned before, recruits aren’t just locked in a
shed somewhere, they are taken to the cellar of a ruined and abandoned house, the walls
and floors of which have been slathered in raw meat and blood to further drive the attack
dog into a frenzy.
The dog is then let loose to chase the recruit from this real-world Evil Dead basement, and
if they aren’t offered a saperka to help them fight, they have to use anything within
reach to go hand-to-jaws with the vicious, bloodthirsty animal.
We’d be willing to wager that there’s no dog-sitter anywhere in the world that’s
tough enough to deal with something like that.
The primary goal of Spetsnaz training is to push each recruit to their maximum threshold,
both physically and mentally, and then drive them even further.
Trainees are taught to develop their skills in infiltration, in order to prepare them
to undertake some of the more secretive operations that the Spetsnaz undertakes.
That’s right, it’s not all bloody basements and saperka-tossing.
Recruits are given classes in foreign languages and learn about the cultures of other nations,
alongside techniques that enable them to kill a target in complete silence.
Parachuting including HALO – which stands for High Altitude Low Opening – also forms
part of the training regimen, as well as outdoor exercises that allow recruits to learn the
necessary skills to survive for long periods of time in harsh environments.
Think the sort of thing Bear Grylls is known for, and then turn it up to eleven.
Additionally, naval Spetsnaz hopefuls are taught an even wider array of specialised
skills.
Much like the British Special Boat Service and the US Navy SEALs, any recruit hoping
to join the Naval Spetsnaz units are required to be proficient in scuba diving, and are
also shown how to use underwater explosives and weapons, methods of storming a beach when
attacking from the shore, how to get inside a submarine, and how to perform in close-range
combat while swimming.
This is all done to prepare future Spetsnaz soldiers for elite missions.
According to The Russian Ministry of Defence, Spetsnaz units are deployed when an operation
calls for “methods and ways of fighting not characteristic of conventional forces”.
This can include reconnaissance and sabotage missions, counter-terrorism operations and
a wide array of other missions, many of which are kept highly secretive by the Russian military.
Training involves recruits having to learn such a wide range of different skills in combat
and infiltration as a way to prepare them for any mission that being a member of a Spetsnaz
unit can offer them.
Of course, training isn’t all about causing recruits pain through fighting dogs and live-fire
assault courses, sometimes the more dangerous and particularly cruel parts of the Spetsnaz
training regimen come in the form of physically exhausting, non-combat-based tasks and the
sheer callousness of the instructors.
In 2006, one of the most infamous incidents of a Spetsnaz commanding officer’s cruelty
resulted in injuries so severe that they changed the life of one recruit forever.
Private Andrei Sychyov – who was only nineteen at the time – was awoken at 3 AM by Junior
Sergeant Aleksandr Sivyakov, who was believed to be drunk and determined to teach the private
“a lesson.”
This lesson began by the sergeant ordering the nineteen-year-old to perform a number
of push-ups.
When Andrei couldn’t complete the task, he was made to squat on the balls of his feet.
If his ankles touched the ground at any point, Sergeant Sivyakov beat the young recruit and
stomped on his ankles.
He didn’t complain, out of fear for the sergeant, even when this process continued
for three whole hours.
After this time, the private was released but found that he couldn’t stand, and within
a few days Andrei couldn’t even get out of bed.
Things only got worse for Andrei Sychyov from there.
Rushed to hospital as a result of severe and painful swellings in his legs – which were
now black and blue – the young private still told no-one of what had been done to him,
even when he was told by doctors that both legs were gangrenous due to him being denied
medical attention for three days.
They had no idea what had caused the young man’s injuries.
It wasn’t due to a horrific accident or even a combat drill gone awry, the severity
of Andrei’s injuries came as a result of the torture that Sergeant Sivyakov had inflicted
on him.
Unfortunately, surgeons were then forced to amputate both of Andrei’s legs as well as
his genitals, almost everything below the waist was infected.
The brutal mistreatment of Private Andrei Sychyov, given the severity of what had to
be done to save him from gangrene infection, was met with public scandal, and highlighted
the abusive discipline utilised within Spetsnaz training.
The Russian military offered Andrei’s family a three-bedroom apartment and five-hundred
thousand rubles – which is just over twenty-thousand US dollars – as an apology for what was
done to the young private.
Andrei’s mother believed that these were given to them to buy their silence, but she
wanted action taken against the sergeant who tortured her son so horrendously.
The family brought the incident to the attention of the news and pressed for a military trial
against Sergeant Sivyakov.
However, Sivyakov was only charged with ‘exceeding his authority’ and, while he was still sentenced
to four years imprisonment, the trial highlighted a clear presence of what is known as ‘dedovshchina’
deeply ingrained in Russia’s military and the training of its younger recruits.
You’re probably asking what dedovshchina means?
Often referred to as the rule of the grandfathers, dedovshchina is a disciplinary system employed
within the Russain military, including the Spetsnaz.
It effectively grants older conscripts or those of higher rank total authority over
younger, newer recruits.
This is, understandably, why Andrei Sychyov was afraid to complain about being made to
squat, as Sergeant Sivyakov was entirely in charge and abused the power he was given over
the young private.
The case of Andrei Sychyov wasn’t an isolated incident, either.
According to the Russian military’s own numbers – which are suspected to be lower
than the actual figures – sixteen soldiers were killed by dedovshchina-related incidents
the year before what was done to Andrei, and a further two-hundred and seventy-six committed
suicide in 2005.
Some reports have suggested some deaths that were labelled as suicides or accidents may
even have been additional dedovshchina cases that were covered up to avoid attention.
What this tells us is that, as tough and physically demanding as training to join the Spetsnaz
can be, it is made all the worse when said training is conducted under a system that
allows senior conscripts to abuse, torture and – in the case of Andrei Sychyov – even
mutilate the young trainees.
The hardest part of the training regimen, arguably, might not be the training itself,
but the people running it.
Fighting rabid dogs in bloody basements, committing murder with shovels, performing rigorous tests
of physical endurance, intellect, and willpower, and being bullied by your superiors.
And considering the fact that this utterly horrific gauntlet of a training regimen has
lead to accidental deaths and suicides, when we say that you won’t survive the Russian
Special Forces training, we really do mean that.
Maybe that job at the artisanal coffee shop isn’t looking so bad after all…
Check out “Why You Won't Survive NAVY Seal Training” and “American vs Russian Special
Forces - Which Are Better?