Word: spetsnaz
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...wonders whether he trained the hit man. At times, he says, he imagines himself sitting next to the killer, checking his technique as he carries out the hit. Alexei--a pseudonym--is still in his 30s and was until a few years ago a senior officer in the Spetsnaz, the secret Russian special-forces units modeled on the U.S. Delta Force. When it comes to killing, Alexei knows of what he speaks: he was a specialist in the "physical elimination" of adversaries...
Highly classified and highly trained, the Spetsnaz once epitomized the menace and power of the Soviet state. But these days, the Russian military is in such deep decline that the dash last month by 200 of its airborne troops to Pristina airport--traveling over roads not much more dangerous than a Middle-American highway--was hailed as a major feat of arms. Morale is low throughout the Russian army, and the special forces are no exception. But unlike most Russian soldiers, the Spetsnaz have salable skills. They are snipers, explosives and communications specialists, experts in close combat and surveillance, trained...
...decline of the Spetsnaz--and the way the public's perception of these special forces has swung from adulation to cynicism--symbolizes the way Russia has lost its bearings, its hopes for the future and its ideals. An elite group like the Spetsnaz was held together by a belief in the system, as more than half a dozen soldiers interviewed by TIME recall. No longer. "I swore allegiance to Russia," says Alexei. "I don't identify the present regime with Russia." Many feel equally alienated from their corrupt commanders. A conversation with Sergei, a Spetsnaz noncommissioned officer, frequently drifts...
Equally striking is the way the public's view of the Spetsnaz has changed. Ten years ago, the special forces were regarded as the country's secret weapon, the men who had overthrown the President of Afghanistan in his own palace and would strike deep inside Western Europe if a new world war broke out. This has changed. The most popular video in Russia last year was Schizophrenia. An unremittingly bleak portrayal of modern Russia, it tells the story of a Spetsnaz-type officer who is framed by the security police and then forced to assassinate a banker planning...
...Spetsnaz soldiers also hire themselves out to the underworld in less dramatic ways, Alexei says. "Say a crime boss is planning a confrontation with a rival," he explains. "He phones his Spetsnaz contact and asks for four or five guys. They take time off from their units and stand behind the boss, fully armed, while he talks to his rival. The other side sees they are serious kids and is impressed." For a couple of hours' work, they make $200 each, Alexei says. If there is any shooting, their fee goes up to $500. This is more than a year...