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Good video but shame about the soundtrack!......I truely believe that most in the West seriously underestimate the modern Russian military and still have a belief that they are all poorly equipped and trained vodka-addled conscripts!.

Forgot to add that the two guys on the back of that truck were lucky!

Agreed, I hate soundtracks on these things - At least the two on the back now know what their backsides are REALLY for - no more need for Special K...

snayperskaya wrote:I truely believe that most in the West seriously underestimate the modern Russian military and still have a belief that they are all poorly equipped and trained vodka-addled conscripts!.

Forgot to add that the two guys on the back of that truck were lucky!

Maybe so, but Russian Spetznaz are no more elite than most British Infantry regiments or Royal Marines and on a par with US Marines, so I would question how well trained their conscripts are.

24772433 wrote:

snayperskaya wrote:I truely believe that most in the West seriously underestimate the modern Russian military and still have a belief that they are all poorly equipped and trained vodka-addled conscripts!.

Forgot to add that the two guys on the back of that truck were lucky!

Maybe so, but Russian Spetznaz are no more elite than most British Infantry regiments or Royal Marines and on a par with US Marines, so I would question how well trained their conscripts are.

Spetnaz is quite a broad umbrella term covering all Soviet/Russian Federation special forces.Specialist units such as the GRU, under the command of Russian Military Intelligence, are much higher trained than British or US army infantry units.Other groups include Alpha and Vympel which come under the command of the FSB and are specialists in counter-terrorism and protecting Russia's strategic installations.

Spetsnaz training largely mirrors the special forces training in other countries with the addition of specialized training geared toward prisoner interrogation and assassination techniques. While the U.S. special forces (green berets) have the primary function of training local indigenous personnel in the art of guerilla warfare and resistance, the spetsnazovets has as his primary responsibility of conducting surveillance, sabotage, diversion and reconnaissance. Perhaps the spetsnazovets training can best be described as incorporating all the skills used by the U.S. special forces, rangers, delta force, and in the case of naval spetsnaz, the navy seals.

Spetznaz are no more elite than most British Infantry regiments
Probably are actually. One can not compare a regular infantryman and a SF member, the same way not all the RM are SBS grade. For start, I doubt most squadies, British or other nationality, would even pass the admition test. BTW, Spetnaz is a generic term for "Special Troops" both for the Army, FSB & the Interior ministry, so, once again, it covers many different type of missions & training requirements.

Like you said, Spetsnaz covers a broad range of soldiers, most of whom, as portrayed in the video, are trained to the same levels as British Infantry and Royal Marine standards. Of course there are more specialist groups in Spetznaz, akin to SBS, Delta, etc but they are an elite few.

Special forces forces do not show their tactics on YouTube. That video showed nothing more than basic, but competent infantry fieldcraft and tactics. In comparison to a British infantry, US Rangers, USMC, etc.

There are about 9 Brigades of Spetznaz, last time I checked, GRU, Naval, Airborne, Guards, etc. Do you think there are Brigades of SEALs, Delta, SAS, SBS?

Nothing special about Spetznaz only that they're better than the conscripts.

24772433 wrote:
Nothing special about Spetznaz only that they're better than the conscripts.

..... And on that note I'm out.

There are about 9 Brigades of Spetznaz, last time I checked, GRU, Naval, Airborne, Guards, etc. Do you think there are Brigades of SEALs, Delta, SAS, SBS?

I think it's actually more than 9 for an estimated 15k members, which, if correct, given the size of the Russian army, would actually be lower that western ones.
A Russian TV report on the "selection run". From their telnyashka, they appear not to be army soldiers but Interior minister members.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xBuJcAKKeXw

Anyway, I am no expert, so, like Snayperskaya, what ever you say.