Nations are increasingly building up small,
elite, highly trained military components to deal with domestic insurgencies
and terrorism as well as foreign threats.
Russia, in particular, has been using its special operations units to
infiltrate, disrupt and overwhelm targeted states.
The latest example of its successful use of
such units was in Crimea where two busloads of the (Russian main intelligence directorate) GRU’s 45th and 22nd
Spetsnaz regiments seized Crimea’s Parliament and Council of Ministers buildings.
Following up on its Crimean success, Russia
again used its special forces to invade the Donbas.
Ukraine inherited its share of the Soviet Union’s spetsnaz
after gaining independence, but had used them without honor and distinction.
They have been used by the government and various oligarchs as mercenaries to scare and blackmail individuals and to
raid businesses. In particular, because
of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych regime’s use of Berkut, Alpha, Tiger, and Leopard special
police forces to suppress EuroMaidan protesters, many of these units were
disbanded after he fled the country, and the new government was hesitant to use
them because of their dubious reputation.
When, subsequently, some of them joined volunteer National
Guard units and territorial defense battalions, even the president had to
intercede in their defense by stating that those who now came to Ukraine’s
defense had earned amnesty and forgiveness with their blood. According to Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, Ukraine’s depleted spetsnaz forces were the
only units that were fit for duty and
deployed during the first period of the war.
In almost all instances in which Ukraine’s spetsnaz units
were deployed, they served with heroism and distinction.
In April the Omega unit retook the Kramatorsk
airfield. Spetsnaz units were the first to encounter insurgents in Sloviansk
and systematically destroyed rebel checkpoints so that regular forces could
enter the city. Spetsnaz forces were
airlifted to help local troops drive back several hundred attackers storming a
military base in Mariupol. And Ukraine’s
own version of Stalingrad is replicated in the 3rd Separate Spetsnaz
Regiment’s 7 months’ defense of Donetsk
International Airport – earning for
themselves the nickname of “cyborgs” from their awed enemy.
If Ukraine is to recover any part of the territory now
controlled by Russian troops and their allies, it must concentrate its efforts
on building up its special forces units and providing them with the best
training and equipment that money can buy.
A large force of regular troops is important to contain
enemy forces and to hold retaken territory. But the use of regular conscript or volunteer
troops to liberate occupied territories would be far too costly in
civilian and military lives, infrastructure, and property damage and may
provoke an overt, large-scale counter-offensive.
Ukraine’s special forces can change that dynamic.
By taking the fight to the enemy and
destroying, assassinating, sabotaging, infiltrating, confusing, and creating
fear and panic in enemy ranks, while inspiring the local population to passive
resistance, Ukraine will force Russia to
pay a very high price for its aggression.
As matters stand now, Russia enjoys the freedom to bring mayhem to
Ukraine without much risk or cost to itself.
Ukraine currently has almost two dozen special operations
units of various size, specialties, and missions that are affiliated with the
Security Service, Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, and Border Guards.
Just
as the U.S. found it necessary to place all its special operations units under
a single authority by way of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Ukraine
should consider doing likewise. It could
then see how many it has, what their skills are, and what training is needed to
meet mission requirements.
The members
should be well paid, their training
intense, their families guaranteed lifetime benefits. They should be supplied
with the best intelligence information available and deployed in small 3-6
person teams with specific assignment to disrupt enemy transportation,
assassinate enemy officers and civil leaders, blow up supply depots, ambush
convoys, and create enough havoc that will discourage new “volunteers” and keep
Russians busy replacing what they lost.
George Woloshyn worked in the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He is a former naval intelligence commander and former director of U.S. National Security Preparedness and a former director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Security Investigations.
