Main Intelligence Directorate

GRU Generalnogo Shtaba

Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije ГРУ ГШ ВС РФ Главное Разведывательное Управление
Agency overview
Formed	May 7, 1992
Preceding agencies	Main Intelligence Directorate (Soviet Union) Fifth Department of the Russian Imperial Chief of Staff
Jurisdiction	President of Russia
Headquarters	Grizodubovoy str. 3, Moscow
Minister responsible	Sergey Shoygu, Defense Minister
Agency executive	Igor Korobov, Director
Parent agency	Ministry of Defense
Child agencies	Svyazinformsoyuz Company Directorate for Space Intelligence
Website	Not exist

Main Intelligence Agency (Russian: Гла́вное разве́дывательное управле́ние, tr. Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye; IPA: [ˈglavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə]), abbreviated GRU (Russian: ГРУ; IPA: [geeˈru]), is the foreign military intelligence main agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (formerly the Soviet Army General Staff of the Soviet Union). The official full name is Main Intelligence Agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Russian: Гла́вное разве́дывательное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых Сил Росси́йской Федера́ции). It is also known as GRU GSh (Russian: ГРУ ГШ; abbreviation of ГРУ Генера́льного шта́ба, tr. GRU Generalnovo Shtaba (English: GRU of the General Staff)).

The GRU is Russia's largest foreign intelligence agency.^[1] In 1997 it deployed six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, the successor of the KGB's foreign operations directorate. It also commanded 25,000 Spetsnaz troops in 1997.^[2]

History

GRU Official emblem (until 2009) with motto engraved: "Greatness of the Motherland in your glorious deeds"

The first body for military intelligence was established in 1810 by the War minister Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly who suggested to the Czar to create a permanent body for Strategic military intelligence.

In January 1810 The Expedition for Secret Affairs under the War Ministry was formed. Two years later it was renamed to the Special Bureau.

In 1815 the bureau became the First Department under the General Chief of Staff. In 1836 the intelligence functions were transferred to the Second Department under the General Chief of Staff. After many name changes through the years, in April 1906 the Military intelligence was carried out by the Fifth Department under the General Chief of Staff of the War Ministry.

In November 5, 1918 the Imperial Military intelligence was replaced by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Soviet Union.

In May 1992 the GRU was dissolved and became part of the new Russian Ministry of Defense.

The GRU is still a very important part of the Russian Federation's intelligence services, especially since it was never split up, unlike the KGB.^[3] The KGB was dissolved after aiding a failed coup in 1991 against the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. It has since been divided into the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSB).

In 2006 the GRU moved to a new headquarters. In 2008 President Dmitry Medvedev resigned the GRU Head Valentin Korabelnikov (who headed the Service since 1997).

In 2010 under the military reform the GRU changed its name to Main Directorate of the Russian General Chief of Staff, but the GRU remain as a common name.

Activities

According to the Federation of American Scientists: "Though sometimes compared to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, [the GRU's] activities encompass those performed by nearly all joint US military intelligence agencies as well as other national US organizations. The GRU gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. It also maintains significant signals intelligence (SIGINT) and imagery reconnaissance (IMINT) and satellite imagery capabilities."^[4] GRU Space Intelligence Directorate has put more than 130 SIGINT satellites into orbit. GRU and KGB SIGINT network employed about 350,000 specialists.^[5]

According to GRU defector Kalanbe, "Though most Americans do not realize it, America is penetrated by Russian military intelligence to the extent that arms caches lie in wait for use by Russian special forces." He also described a possibility that compact tactical nuclear weapons known as "suitcase bombs" are hidden in the US^[6][7] and noted that "the most sensitive activity of the GRU is gathering intelligence on American leaders, and there is only one purpose for this intelligence: targeting information for spetsnaz (special forces) assassination squads [in the event of war]." The American leaders will be easily assassinated using the "suitcase bombs," according to Lunev.^[6] GRU is "one of the primary instructors of terrorists worldwide" according to Lunev.^[6] Terrorist Shamil Basayev reportedly worked for this organization.^[8][9][10]

US Congressman Curt Weldon supported claims by Lunev but noted that Lunev had "exaggerated things" according to the FBI.^[11] Searches of the areas identified by Lunev – who admits he never planted any weapons in the US – have been conducted, "but law-enforcement officials have never found such weapons caches, with or without portable nuclear weapons."^[12]

During the 2006 Georgian–Russian espionage controversy, four officers working for the GRU Alexander Savva, Dmitry Kazantsev, Aleksey Zavgorodny and Alexander Baranov were arrested by the Counter-Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and were accused of espionage and sabotage. This spy network was managed from Armenia by GRU Colonel Anatoly Sinitsin. A few days later the arrested officers were handed over to Russia through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).^[13][14]

GRU detachments from Chechnya were transferred to Lebanon independently of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon after the 2006 Lebanon War "to improve Russia's image in the Arab world", according to Sergei Ivanov.^[15] Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was assassinated by two GRU officers. GRU officers have also been accused of creating criminal death squads.^[16]

The GRU has significant part in Russia's involvement in Syrian civil war.

Miscellaneous

Chechnya

Dmitry Kozak and Vladislav Surkov, members of the Vladimir Putin administration, reportedly served in GRU. Two Chechen former warlords Said-Magomed Kakiev and Sulim Yamadayev are commanders of Special Battalions Vostok and Zapad ("East" and "West") that are controlled by the GRU. The battalions each included close to a thousand fighters^[17] until their disbandment in 2008.

Baranov

In 2002, Bill Powell, former Moscow bureau chief at Newsweek, wrote Treason, an account of the experiences of former GRU colonel Vyacheslav Baranov, who had betrayed GRU for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and agreed to spy for it. He was exposed to the Russians by a mole in either the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the CIA and spent five years in prison before he was released. The identity of the mole remains unknown to this day, but speculation has mounted that it could have been Robert Hanssen.^[18]

Chairmen

The Head of the Russian Military Intelligence is a military officer and is the highest ranking intelligence officer in Russia. He is the primary military intelligence adviser to the Russian Minister of Defense and to the Chief of Staff and also answers to the President of Russia.

Since 1991

Fictional uses

• In the international best-selling The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy, the main protagonist Lisbeth Salander's father, Alexander Zalachenko, was a former GRU spy who defected to Sweden and was granted political asylum and began his new life in Sweden under the protection of a secret division of the Swedish Security Service during the Cold War.
• In the video game Battlefield 3, there are 2 missions where you play as Dimitri Mayakovsky, a fictional GRU operative, and a former Spetsnaz operative.
• In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the main character Naked Snake (real name John) eliminates GRU operatives during his quest to destroy the Shagohod and Colonel Volgin.
• In Team Fortress 2, the Heavy Weapons specialist (a Russian man) has a melee item called the Gloves of Running Urgently.

See also

• Farewell Dossier
• Victor Suvorov
• Vatutinki
• Active measures
• SMERSH
• Leopold Trepper, an organizer of the Soviet spy ring Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) prior to World War II
• Pavel Sudoplatov
• Nuclear suitcase bomb
• Office of Strategic Services

References

External links

• Official Page in the Russian Ministry of Defense website
• Reuters factbox on GRU
• The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) for new evidence on Soviet espionage in the United States from GRU/KGB archival sources
• A Blog about the GRU's history, organization, operations, etc.
• History of military intelligence from the Agentura.ru project (in English)
• Information from FAS.org
• Another FAS site
• President Putin visits new GRU headquarters
• GRU High Command and leading GRU officers
• Ivan Ilyichev – Head of GRU
• GRU structure