All posts in category Cossacks

New article: ‘Hybrid, ambiguous, and non-linear? How new is Russia’s ‘new way of war’?’

Screen Shot 2016-03-22 at 09.23.14Just a quick note, that an article of mine has appeared in the latest issue of Small Wars & Insurgencies, vol. 27, no. 2, a special issue on ‘Proxy Actors, Militias and Irregular Forces: The New Frontier of War?’ pulled together by Alex Marshall of Glasgow University. It emerged from an excellent workshop that Alex convened last year on this important and under-researched topic and the issue includes, along with all sorts of first-rate material, the always-great Vanda Felbab-Brown on Afghan militias and an interesting conceptual piece by Robert and Pamela Ligouri Bunker. My contribution, Hybrid, ambiguous, and non-linear? How new is Russia’s ‘new way of war’?, places recent Russian practice very firmly within an historical tradition going back to pre-Soviet adventures. Here’s the abstract:

Russia’s recent operations in Ukraine, especially the integrated use of militias,
gangsters, information operations, intelligence, and special forces, have created
a concern in the West about a ‘new way of war’, sometimes described as ‘hybrid’.
However, not only are many of the tactics used familiar from Western operations,
they also have their roots in Soviet and pre-Soviet Russian practice. They are
distinctive in terms of the degree to which they are willing to give primacy to
‘non-kinetic’ means, the scale of integration of non-state actors, and tight linkage
between political and military command structures. However, this is all largely a
question of degree rather than true qualitative novelty. Instead, what is new is
the contemporary political, military, technological, and social context in which
new wars are being fought.

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by Mark Galeotti on March 22, 2016  •  Permalink
Posted in Chechnya, Cossacks, GRU, Military - Russia, North Caucasus, Russian History, Russian Military, Russian Politics, Security, Soviet History, Ukraine

Posted by Mark Galeotti on March 22, 2016

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/new-article-hybrid-ambiguous-and-non-linear-how-new-is-russias-new-way-of-war/

‘Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces since 1991’: writings and thoughts

One of Johnny Shumate's preliminary sketches for color plates in my forthcoming Osprey Publishing title Elite 197 'Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces since 1991', ISBN 978 1 78096105 7, to be published in August 2013

One of Johnny Shumate’s preliminary sketches for color plates in my forthcoming Osprey Publishing title Elite 197 ‘Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces since 1991’, ISBN 978 1 78096105 7, to be published in August 2013

Having been the kind of nerdy kid who frequented the library to scour the Osprey military history titles, who predictably enough grew up to be the kind of nerdy adult who buys them instead, it was a thorough delight to be able to write my first Osprey book, Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces since 1991, which is due to be published August 2013. (Elite series number 197,  ISBN 978 1 78096105 7). In part it gave me new respect for the series given the extensive detail and fact-checking involved, as well as the way the artists need to have a distinctive combination of the meticulous and the imaginative when producing the color plates which are such a feature of the books. The accompanying sketch, from the talented Johnny Shumate, is just the first rendering of an operator from the Saturn special forces group of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) in full riot kit. The color version is even more stunning…but you’ll have to wait and buy the book to see that!

However, the exercise also led me to think more about the rise in Russian security, special and paramilitary forces since the collapse of the USSR. The Soviets, after all, were hardly averse to maintaining large parallel armies and also sundry elite forces. However, there has been not just an increase in the numbers of many of these forces, there has also been a proliferation. There are OMON riot police (who do more than just quell riots), KSN/OMSN/SOBR special police response units, various special forces within the MVD’s Interior Troops, numerous commando ‘spetsgruppy’ within the security apparatus, from the FSB’s Alfa and Vympel to the SVR’s Zaslon. As if that were not enough, there are special forces within the FSIN, the FSKN anti-narcotics service, even of a kind within the MChS Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The irony is that the only special forces elements which have shrunk of late have been the regular military’s Spetsnaz — and even then, they still proportionately make up a larger share of the army than in Soviet times. The same is true of the security troops of the Interior Troops: there are fewer than in the Soviet VV, but more compared with the smaller size of Russia’s population.

(more…)

3 Comments
by Mark Galeotti on December 10, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Book Review, Cossacks, FSB, Military - Russia, MVD, Police, Security

Posted by Mark Galeotti on December 10, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/russian-security-and-paramilitary-forces-since-1991-writings-and-thoughts/

‘Living in Cossackworld’ – on the practical and metaphorical roles of the Cossacks

ImageThe NYU Jordan Center’s All the Russias’ blog continues to showcase high-quality and almost-serious writing, by which I obviously mean that it has published another of my pieces, Living in Cossackworld, exploring just why the Russian government (and this dates back to Yeltsin) places an importance on mobilizing and co-opting the Cossacks out of proportion with their practical importance.

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by Mark Galeotti on October 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Cossacks, Military - Russia, Russian Politics

Posted by Mark Galeotti on October 2, 2012

https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/living-in-cossackworld-on-the-practical-and-metaphorical-roles-of-the-cossacks/

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