Construction battalions are returning to the army. Soviet construction battalion, or soldiers without weapons

“In the Soviet army there are the most terrible troops - the construction battalion; these beasts are not given weapons at all!” - stated a once popular joke

“You will go to serve in a construction battalion!” Any Soviet young man of military age was most afraid to hear these words. All the valor of the construction battalions lay in the endless “construction of objects.” And it was very convenient to send there those who were dangerous to trust with weapons, that is, unreliable citizens.

Move the crown to one side

The troops originated from the moment the decree on the formation of the military restoration department was issued on February 13, 1942. It was necessary to rebuild everything destroyed in the territories liberated from the German occupiers.

Not without a bit of humor, the VZO was called the “royal troops” - thanks to the number, which reached 400 thousand people. For comparison, in the Soviet Union, the airborne troops numbered approximately 60 thousand soldiers, there were about 200 thousand border guards, and about 15 thousand marines. There was also another version about such a “loud” name for the troops. The fact is that all cosmodromes in the Union were built by construction battalions, which is why the name was associated with the country’s chief designer Sergei Korolev.

There is no need to issue weapons for construction and repairs; this was a reason for offensive jokes. Everyone who served in the VSO (military construction detachment - editor's note) was called fools who could not be trusted with anything important, but they were excellent with picks and shovels.

In the construction battalion they didn’t even teach me how to shoot. In fact, it was difficult to call them troops - the guys who served in the VSO were simple hard workers, practically no different from civilian builders.

Rich suitors

But the construction battalions had it huge advantage: they were paid a salary - from 110 to 250 rubles per month, the level depended on the specialty. Those who worked on cranes and excavators received the highest salaries.

After demobilization, construction battalion members took home up to 5,000 rubles; they could buy a car. And in rare cases, a certain amount of money was withdrawn from the account to send to relatives. True, each soldier was charged 30 rubles a month for living expenses: the construction battalion member paid for accommodation, food and uniforms. Sometimes this amount included payment cultural events and other entertainment.

Construction battalion members had the opportunity to earn extra money on the side. The guys always had enough money for personal expenses: by agreeing to “dig,” “whitewash,” “paint,” one could get about 15 rubles for one day of work. Orders for labor came mainly from collective farmers and village residents.

It is worth saying that the construction battalion workers did not disdain to receive “liquid” currency for their work. Villagers often agreed to pay for minor work with a liter or two of moonshine and other strong drinks. The construction battalion worker could dispose of income received on the side at his own discretion.

My tongue is my enemy

It was the composition of the VSO that became the reason for negative opinions about the construction troops. Of course, the main emphasis was on graduates construction technical schools and schools Conscripts who had already acquired the necessary knowledge in civilian life were valued above others. As a rule, their salaries were higher. Advantage was also given to soldiers from villages who had an idea of how to hold a shovel.

But very often residents of the most distant regions, mainly from the Caucasus and Asia, were “stuffed” into the construction troops. There was a logical explanation for this - they practically did not speak Russian. Conscription of citizens without knowledge for military service state language would have created a serious barrier between soldiers, and in construction the issue of language was not a pressing issue. Therefore, in some detachments, the Asian and Caucasian contingent accounted for up to 90% of the number.

Unreliable young men were also sent to the construction battalion: about 6-8 people per battalion had previous convictions. Conscripts with limited physical capabilities and health problems were not accepted into serious military service, but were always welcome in the construction battalion. It was believed that physical disabilities were not a hindrance for a builder.

“Peaceful work” for the benefit of the Motherland

Hazing and fraternity were widespread in construction brigades everywhere. Some recruits who found themselves in the same detachment with yesterday’s criminals, accustomed to living by their own laws, as well as with representatives of the eastern regions, almost always experienced bullying and were subjected to violence. The suicide rate in the construction battalion was an order of magnitude higher than in other troops. In addition, residents of Central Asia set up markets for hashish, so many demobilized soldiers returned to civilian life as complete drug addicts.

There was no need to talk about the safety of service in military construction units. It was not only in the units themselves that soldiers were exposed to danger. Firstly, no one guaranteed against injury or even death during work, especially for crane and excavator operators. Secondly, since 1979 special units went to Afghanistan, where they were assigned to build temporary housing, build airfields, fortifications, and establish infrastructure for Soviet troops.

In 1986, special units of construction units were sent to Chernobyl to eliminate the consequences of the explosion at the nuclear power plant. Needless to say, many soldiers received life-threatening levels of radiation. In general, it was believed that serving in a construction battalion was unbearable hard labor, which crippled both psychologically and physically.

Through the eyes of management

The conditions of service, the unreliable contingent of troops, the eastern mentality of soldiers and many other negative aspects of the VSO did not paint them not only in the eyes of conscripts and everything civilian population countries. The senior military leadership also spoke about the ineffectiveness and even illegality of the construction battalion.

Minister of Defense Georgy Zhukov, as well as the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Vasily Sokolovsky back in 1956 they pointed out that the very existence of a construction battalion was contrary to the Constitution Soviet Union. After all, according to the main document of the state, military service is possible only as part of the Armed Forces, and the construction battalion was not included in their ranks.

At the same time, many people forget that military construction units brought a lot of benefits, especially in the post-war period. It was not for nothing that the number of troops was the largest in the Union; groups of military builders worked in the most remote and “difficult” corners of the Union.

Each division had its own specifics. Some successfully erected military bunkers, others built houses, and others worked on infrastructure. Therefore, even taking into account the lack of prestige, the VSO brought clear benefits to the state.

The controversial history of these troops could have ended in 1990, when Mikhail Gorbachev signed a decree on their disbandment. But this was by no means the last reform, and the process, apparently, has not ended today.

The word “construction battalion” evokes a smile or slight irony in many people, since officially this type of troops no longer exists. The last units were disbanded in the 90s. But there are still many popular sayings or just anecdotes about the construction battalion.

History of creation

Construction battalion is a construction battalion, although in official documents everything was different. VSO (military construction detachments) began since 1942 when by resolution of the Council people's commissars The USSR decided to create a Military Reconstruction Directorate. Under his leadership, all infrastructure facilities destroyed by the occupying Germans during the Great Patriotic War were built. Patriotic War. The term “construction battalion” itself was coined by the people and went out of circulation in 1970. It is worth noting that the soldiers themselves called themselves very ironically - royal troops.

Facts - in 1980, the number of VSO personnel was about 300–400 thousand people, which covers the total number of such units as: Airborne Forces, Marine Corps and Border Troops.

The soldier is sleeping - the service is in progress. Terms of Service

To be honest, not all soldiers are conscript service wanted to get into the construction battalion. And there are a number of reasons for this:

The soldiers had to military service formal attitude. They could spend more time not in a trench or shooting, but at a construction site or digging a pit.
National component. The detachments were formed from multinational groups. Children from disadvantaged families or teenagers registered with the police were often taken to the construction battalion. This combination different types nationalities and people prone to crime frightened the young fighter. There were frequent cases of desertion from units.
VSO could be sent to potentially dangerous places, even in peacetime. They were thrown into eliminating man-made disasters or eliminating the consequences of natural disasters. Such work was associated with the risk of receiving a dangerous disease or injuries of varying complexity.
The very attitude of society towards this type of troops was lenient. There were many jokes about the construction battalion among the people, so it was undignified to serve in this type of army.

Despite all the shortcomings, there were also distinctive advantages among other types of troops. For example, a soldier received a salary for his service, and its amount was about 120–180 rubles. From this amount you need to deduct 30 rubles for the service of the fighter and his food. But even in this case, a decent amount remains. This money was deposited into the soldier’s personal account, and only in case of urgent need could the soldier use it. The salary could reach up to 250 rubles per month. Everything depended on the specialty that the young fighter had. Specialists of a narrow profile related to machines and equipment, such as bulldozer operators, crane operators, excavator operators and others, were valued. Sometimes a demobilized soldier brought home from service a sum up to 5,000 rubles.

Official criticism

The construction battalion was often criticized by state officials. Thus, in 1956, the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense criticized in their report the places where soldiers served. The contents of the document referred to the constitution, according to which a private must serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, and not in construction organizations countries.

There have been other cases. In 1955, one of construction crews were sent to a still unfinished building for construction and installation work. As the commission later found out, the sanitary and hygienic conditions here did not meet the standards and were grossly violated in some places. Many soldiers were sent to the hospital with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. Some privates were found to have lice.

Despite all the unflattering statements regarding the WZO, one cannot deny their enormous role in the formation and construction of the country. Factories and large enterprises, infrastructure facilities and communication routes - everywhere one could see soldiers working for the good of their homeland. Construction battalions built schools, hospitals, and sometimes entire settlements. Thanks to military discipline and well-functioning logistics, the projects were completed on time, sometimes exceeding construction plans.

Considering the number military construction detachments(about 500 - only in civilian ministries and departments) with an average staffing of 600-800 people in the 1980s, personnel military construction troops reached 300-400 thousand people, which at that time quantitatively exceeded such types of troops as the Airborne Forces (60,000), Marine Infantry (15,000) and Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR (220,000) combined.

Despite its wide distribution and large numbers, the work of military builders in the national economy, as some believed, was contrary to the Constitution of the USSR and the USSR Law on General Military Duty, and such units themselves were illegal (see the report of the Chief Military Prosecutor of the USSR, Lieutenant General of Justice A. F. Katuseva at a meeting of members of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Defense and State Security, June 1990).

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✪ Construction troops

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IN THE USSR

Construction troops(or colloquially “construction battalion”) is the name of the formations that were subordinate to the Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for Construction and Cantonment and other civilian ministers of the Union.

To carry out the tasks of quartering and arranging troops (forces) in the USSR Armed Forces, the military districts (MD) (fleets) and the corresponding structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the KGB of the USSR included military construction departments (MCD), an analogue of which in civil engineering is a construction trust.

The military construction departments were subordinated to the departments engineering work(uir), to which the departments of the head of works (unr) were subordinated - analogues of civil construction departments.

The construction and installation sites (smu) were subordinated to the directorate of the work manager, construction sites(su), warehouses, transport bases and human resources concentrated in military construction military units of districts, groups of forces, fleets and other associations of the USSR Armed Forces and civilian ministries.

The main military construction unit was military construction squad(vso), having the status of a military unit - a separate battalion, which is why the collective colloquial name “construction battalion” came about, although this term existed earlier. Term construction battalion was officially withdrawn from circulation in the 1970s and the term squad was introduced, which, in in this case, pointed to the versatility of the military construction unit. As an exception, in the 80s the term construction battalion was used only in foreign groups of troops - for example, in the GSVG (57th military construction brigade) and in OKSVA (342nd Engineering Directorate). Each of specified compounds consisted of several separate construction battalions .

Military construction detachment (VSO) is a permanent formation in the USSR Armed Forces (USSR Defense Ministry) and other USSR Ministries, consisting of headquarters and units and intended to perform construction and installation work, manufacturing structures and parts at industrial and logging enterprises of the USSR Defense Ministry system and others work in the ministries of the USSR. The military construction detachment was a battalion consisting of 3-6 companies. The staff and equipment of the battalion varied depending on the tasks it performed, which included: construction of defense facilities, construction of roads and bridges, construction of residential buildings, land reclamation, procurement building materials etc. The VSO was recruited mainly from conscripts who graduated from construction educational institutions or had construction or related specialties or experience in construction - (plumbers, bulldozer operators, cable workers, etc.), as well as from conscripts who had a conditional or a completed conviction for a minor crime. Rights, duties and responsibilities of military builders ( in/builders, in/page) were determined by military legislation, and work activity regulated labor legislation(with some peculiarities in the use of one or the other). Remuneration for construction workers was made according to current standards. The mandatory period of work in the VSO was counted towards the period of active military service. It was also envisaged that during the war, military builders would be able, if necessary, to carry out tasks assigned to infantry units, so full-fledged combat training was planned, but carried out formally, so as not to distract personnel from performing basic tasks. construction work.

Depending on the number of personnel employed at construction sites, military construction detachments could be reorganized into military construction regiments(vsp), separate military construction companies(Ovsr), etc., and vice versa, so that the nature of the supply and the staffing of the rear services correspond to the number of military builders.

Basic number military construction units was concentrated in the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Deputy Minister of Defense for Construction and Cantonment of Troops (ZamMO of the USSR for Civil Defense). Subordinate to him were six main departments (Glavkov), one central:

Main Military Construction Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GVSU MO USSR);
Main Military Construction Directorate "Center" of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (GVSU "Center" of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of the USSR);
Main Directorate of Special Construction of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (GUSS MO USSR);
Main Apartment Operations Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GlavKEU MO USSR);
Main Directorate of Construction Industry of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GUSP USSR Ministry of Defense);
- Central organizational planning department capital construction Ministry of Defense of the USSR (TsOPU USSR Ministry of Defense)

In accordance with the resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated February 13, No. 187-102c, the Military Reconstruction Directorate (VVU) was formed as part of the People's Commissariat of Communications with the aim of managing all military units for the restoration, repair and construction of line-cable structures, telephone -telegraph and radio broadcasting centers, radio stations and postal enterprises in the territory liberated from the German occupiers.

Having its own powerful construction industry, GUSS year after year mastered the production of new series residential buildings. They built and delivered more than 17 million square meters comfortable housing, construction of various social and cultural facilities was carried out, including a unique bicycle track in Krylatskoye.
At the beginning of 1956, to carry out construction, the Armed Forces of the USSR maintained military construction units numbering 231,015 military builders. In addition, outside the norms of the size of the Armed Forces of the USSR, there were military construction units numbering 73,095 military builders, and military construction detachments numbering 218,880 people. conscripted military workers.

The use of military personnel in industry is a violation of the Constitution of the USSR, since according to Article 132 of the Constitution, military service, which is an honorable duty of citizens of the USSR, must take place in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and not in construction organizations of civilian ministries of the USSR. In this regard, it is quite natural that there would be sharp dissatisfaction among military personnel assigned to work in military construction units and, in particular, in military construction detachments. They immediately recognize their false position as formally called into the ranks Soviet army, actually used outside the army as work force. Facts show that these military personnel consider their use of work instead of military service to be illegal and many of them protest in all possible forms, including open disobedience and desertion...
...The practice of many years shows that construction organizations of civilian ministries poorly organize the production activities of military construction units and detachments and are completely careless about their material and living support, as a result of which the labor productivity of workers in construction units and detachments is extremely low, and earnings are low. All this led before and is now leading to mass cases of indignation, absenteeism from work, riots, fights and serious violations of public order...
...the material and living conditions of the detachments are unsatisfactory, and some of them are in very difficult material and living conditions. For example: Military construction detachment 1052 was stationed in November 1955 in an unfinished building. The workers slept dressed, since the temperature in the rooms did not exceed +3 degrees. For a month, the workers were not washed in the bathhouse or their underwear was changed, which resulted in lice. 75 workers of the detachment received a severe cold. Despite very coldy, the workers were not given felt boots, as a result of which they worked in the cold in boots, and during transportation to the work site they wrapped their feet in various rags. Ten workers in this detachment suffered severe frostbite on their feet. Medical care and food are extremely poor. In November-December 1955, the workers of the detachment were not given wages.
In the detachments of the Ministry of General Engineering, the situation is even worse: workers live in unheated rooms, food is prepared under open air at a frost of 30-40 degrees. There are 10-15 frostbitten people in the detachments.
All of the above conditions have an extremely negative impact on the state of discipline and lead to disobedience to superiors, mass unauthorized absences, thefts, drunkenness, fights and disruption of public order on such a scale that in some cases the intervention of troops and police was required.

The procedure for military construction workers to serve is regulated by the Regulations on the military construction detachment of the USSR Ministry of Defense, put into effect by order of the USSR Minister of Defense dated May 30, 1977 No. 175. In accordance with this Regulation, a military builder is paid a salary for work on a construction site, from which is deducted the cost of food, uniforms, bath and laundry services, cultural events and other types of support, combined into clothing debt. After being transferred to the reserve and final settlements the military builder is sent a money transfer with the money earned, or a writ of execution to pay off the clothing debt. Military construction workers employed in a unit or located in a medical unit are paid the average salary for their unit.
Individual soldiers (sailors) of military construction detachments (medical instructors, signalmen, etc.) had the status of military personnel; food, uniforms, etc. were free for them.
In the 1980s, approximately 500 military construction units worked in 11 different "civilian" ministries.

Disbanded in 1992 military construction teams(units) working on the construction of national economic facilities in civilian military construction detachments (units) of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. The Council of Ministers of the USSR in the first quarter of 1991 to approve the procedure and specific terms for disbandment military construction detachments(units) working in the Ministry of Nuclear Energy Industry of the USSR, the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, Rosvostokstroy and the Main Directorate of Special Construction under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

There were military construction formations, for example, in Glavspetsstroy under the Ministry of Installation and Special Construction Works of the USSR, the Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management of the USSR, and in republican ministries (for example, in the Ministry of Construction in the eastern regions of the RSFSR).
As of June 1990, military construction formations, in addition to the Armed Forces of the USSR, were available in 22 more ministries and departments, the total staffing level exceeded 330 thousand military personnel and military builders (see the report of the Chief Military Prosecutor, Lieutenant General of Justice A.F. Katusev at a meeting of members of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Defense and State Security, June 1990).

Military construction units in the Afghan war

In this regard, since the fall of 1980, OKSVA has been creating 342nd Engineering Works Directorate (342nd Uir) - a connection of military construction units formed to create military infrastructure. Organizationally, it included 9 military construction battalions, in 1984 the 159th Specialized Brigade was reorganized into the 58th Specialized Brigade, redirecting it exclusively to cargo transportation and supplying military units. Puli-Khumri was later subordinated.
As such, military construction formations in Armed Forces Russian Federation no more. The construction and construction of facilities for military needs is carried out by specialized non-military organizations.

Ranks

Military builders are awarded the following titles:

Military personnel of private and non-commissioned personnel of military construction units who are in the position of military personnel, as well as those serving beyond their term, were awarded military ranks private and non-commissioned officers of the army, air force and navy: from private (sailor) to petty officer (chief sergeant).

History of creation

Construction battalion is a construction battalion, although in official documents everything was different. VSO (military construction detachments) began since 1942, when by resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR it was decided to create a Military Reconstruction Directorate. Under his leadership, all infrastructure facilities destroyed by the occupying Germans during the Great Patriotic War were built. The term “construction battalion” itself was coined by the people and went out of circulation in 1970. It is worth noting that the soldiers themselves called themselves very ironically - royal troops.

Facts - in 1980, the number of VSO personnel was about 300–400 thousand people, which covers the total number of such units as: Airborne Forces, Marine Corps and Border Troops.

The soldier is sleeping - the service is in progress. Terms of Service

To be honest, not all conscripts wanted to get into a construction battalion. And there are a number of reasons for this:

The soldiers had a formal relationship to military service. They could spend more time not in a trench or shooting, but at a construction site or digging a pit.
National component. The detachments were formed from multinational groups. Children from disadvantaged families or teenagers registered with the police were often taken to the construction battalion. This combination of different types of nationalities and people prone to crime frightened the young fighter. There were frequent cases of desertion from units.
VSO could be sent to potentially dangerous places, even in peacetime. They were thrown into eliminating man-made disasters or eliminating the consequences of natural disasters. Such work was associated with the risk of receiving a dangerous disease or injuries of varying complexity.
The very attitude of society towards this type of troops was lenient. There were many jokes about the construction battalion among the people, so it was undignified to serve in this type of army.

Official criticism

The construction battalion was often criticized by state officials. Thus, in 1956, the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense criticized in their report the places where soldiers served. The contents of the document referred to the constitution, according to which a private soldier must serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, and not in the construction organizations of the country.

There have been other cases. In 1955, one of the construction teams was sent to an unfinished building for construction and installation work. As the commission later found out, the sanitary and hygienic conditions here did not meet the standards and were grossly violated in some places. Many soldiers were sent to the hospital with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. Some privates were found to have lice.

Skills For example, if you are a parachutist athlete, you can count on serving in the Airborne Forces. If you have a driver's license, then there is a very high probability that you will serve as a driver. If you have radio skills, you will end up in the communications troops, technical units of the Air Force, etc. – that is, where your skills will be in demand.

If you do not want to end up in a construction battalion, you should acquire certain skills. However, many of them do not need to be documented; during the military registration and enlistment office you will simply be asked a few questions. For example, if you were involved in radio engineering, you may be asked how a power supply or a simple radio receiver works. There will be no difficulties in answering these questions; as a result, you are guaranteed to end up in good troops. IN modern conditions Computer skills and programming skills are useful.

The initial registration to one or another branch of the military occurs at the stage of obtaining a registration certificate while studying in. Here you should be realistic and understand that if, at your request, you are pre-registered in the Airborne Forces, then this does not mean anything. To get into the elite troops, you must at least have good physical fitness. On the other hand, if you ask to join the signal troops, your chances will be quite high.

The place of your study also influences your placement in certain troops - if before serving in you managed to enroll in a university or other educational institution. Not all of them have military departments, so after the first year you may be called up. If you study at a technical institute, your chances of getting into a construction battalion are close to zero. On the other hand, you may find yourself in a construction battalion, even while studying at a university in the faculty of natural sciences or humanities. The army needs technical skills, so a humanities student has a fairly good chance of ending up in the construction forces.

Be sure to monitor your health. If your eyesight is poor, you must prove that you cannot serve at all, or come to the draft board without. The worst option is when you are considered fit for service, but with restrictions; in this case, you are practically guaranteed a job in a construction battalion.

Video on the topic

If you want to get to service V airborne troops, you should, even before conscription or before entering college, devote Special attention your health and physical fitness.

Instructions

Take care of your physical fitness. However, do not forget that a fighter Airborne Forces must be not only strong, but also resilient. That is why martial arts classes are ideal for such training. It would be nice if you also attend the athletics section. When selecting candidates, both sports category and other achievements are taken into account. So don’t feel sorry for yourself and train as hard as you can to get the highest possible level. Your chances of getting in Airborne Forces will increase if you engage in parachuting.

Take care of your health. Don't pick up bad habits at a young age. You must be in perfect health (fitness category “A”) in order to be accepted into the airborne troops. That is why regularly undergo medical examinations and harden yourself.

Get busy psychological preparation. You must have a fairly serious motivation to serve in Airborne Forces. So try to take a sober view of things and free yourself from romantic illusions. Any service (and especially in these troops) is, first of all, hard work and constant psychological pressure.

While doing physical training, do not neglect your studies at school. You may need knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, biology, foreign languages, and social studies. Moreover, this should be real knowledge, and not the minimum course required for passing the Unified State Exam(especially if you decide to try to enter the Ryazan Military School, where they train specialists for Airborne Forces).

If you have close relatives with a criminal record, you will not be able to apply for service in the ranks Airborne Forces. Do not try to hide this from the military registration and enlistment office employees or admissions committee schools, since all information provided by conscripts or applicants is always carefully checked.

Video on the topic

Sources:

how to get into the airborne forces

Service in the elite troops has always been considered prestigious. This and career, and purity in calculations according to wages, and just very interesting. But you need to understand that applicants will have to go through a rather difficult selection process and meet strict requirements.

Kremlin troops

To serve in the Kremlin troops, you must meet certain physical requirements. In particular, you need to be no lower than 175 and no higher than 190 cm tall. It is also worth noting that your weight should be in normal proportion to such a tall figure. In addition, the acuity of each eye cannot be lower than 0.7 and have acceptable color vision. There are also restrictions that do not allow serving in the Kremlin troops. For example, the applicant should not have relatives abroad, have complaints from the police and be registered with a psychiatrist or dermatologist.

Internal troops

Get into service in internal troops Every conscript who does not have any physical impairments can. As a rule, it is enough to voice your desire to the military registration and enlistment office employee and him. However, internal troops themselves are not considered elite. Units fall under special purpose, such as Vityaz, Alpha, FSB and GRU. You can become an employee of such elite units only after completing military service or graduating from the military department. Only those who pass certain tests will be able to apply for service in these units. Quite complex psychological and physical tests have been developed for applicants to determine readiness for service. Examiners will test both firearms training and the ability to confront an opponent in hand-to-hand combat, and endurance. In addition, the applicant, his family connections are carefully studied, and consent to serve is taken from parents and spouses.

Foreign intelligence

For service in foreign intelligence Suitable applicants whose age ranges from 22 to 30 years. You must have a higher technical or humanities education, as well as be fluent in one foreign language, the level of which is determined by the employees of the organization. In addition, most grades in the final year of higher education should be high. Restrictions on service are no different from the requirements of other elite units. Compliance with physical and intellectual preparation is required, as well as absence of criminal records and foreign citizenship.

Almost every type of military in Russia has its own elite unit. You can find out more information that will help you get closer to getting a job at the military registration and enlistment office or the relevant department.