Incorporating lessons from Western special operations forces
Russia had established its own equivalent
of the U.S. Army’s elite 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta, Delta Force
This new force is called Special Operations Command
known by its Russian acronym as KSSO (Komandovanie sil spetsial’nalnykh operatsii )
The Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov
first announced the creation of this command in March 2013
According to Gerasimov, the KSSO was designed as a strategic-level asset
elite special operations force units of the KSSO whose primary missions
would be foreign interventions including counter-proliferation
foreign internal defense operations
and undertaking the most complex special operations
and clandestine missions for protecting interests of the Russian Federation
The KSSO are a highly mobile, well-trained and equipped
constant combat prepared special operations force of the Russian Ministry of Defense
Designed for performing specific tasks
the KSSO have the ability to function both within the country and abroad
in peacetime and in wartime
The Russian Ministry of Defense describes the KSSO
as methods and ways of fighting not characteristic of conventional forces
reconnaissance and sabotage, subversion and sedition
counter-terrorism, counter-sabotage
counterintelligence, guerrilla, counter-guerrilla and other activities
Though it is relatively young
this Russian new force have been quick learners and has accumulated
a fairly significant amount of combat experience during its short existence
KSSO has seen some remarkable successes
The most visible of those was Moscow’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula
from Ukraine in 2014
The KSSO's first combat deployment was the rather memorable annexation of Crimea
particularly the initial seizure of the Crimean parliament
Mike Kofman a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses' Russia Studies Program
told The Cipher Brief
The elite unit has also fought during Russia’s intervention in Syria
In September 2015, the KSSO moved on to Syria
where it has taken on an increasingly visible role
in support of Russian combat operations, said Kofman
There, the KSSO has been involved in missions ranging from recovering
the flight recorder of Russia's downed Su-24M navigator back in November 2015
to reconnoitering targets for cruise missile strikes
disruption behind enemy lines through ambushes
high value targeted killing
and retaliation strikes against select groups of fighters
The 2000 man strong KSSO which perhaps bears more
than a passing resemblance to Delta’s parent command JSOC
is still a work in progress and Russia continues to build up its capabilities
KSSO, along with the rest of Russia’s special operations forces
will only grow more capable as they gain experience and integrate additional capabilities
Undoubtedly, the Russian special operators could be some of the most
formidable adversaries that might one-day challenge American forces