Spetsnaz: Inside The Russian SAS

1999 · 53 min · Documentary

Spetsnaz is the Russian for Special Forces. In this series this highly secretive organisation will be laid bare. Since the mid-seventies the unit has seen active service in Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and the crime-ridden streets of Moscow. The films follows some of the different units on operations in Chechnya, Angola and Moscow, as well as their competitive selection process. This film delves inside the domestic counter-terrorism unit ALPHA GROUP, the KGB's foreign commando force, VYMPEL and the special police commandos, OMON. For the first time, our cameras record how new candidates to Spetsnaz units are put through their paces at Balashikha, the joint KGB/Interior Ministry training centre outside Moscow. We will get to know the men and women who aspire to make the transition from regular soldier / policeman to fully-fledged Spetsnaz.

Directed by Paul Mitchell