Word: spetsnaz
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...assault on Grozny and persist in it until the city is conquered, however brutal and bloody. In fact, at week's end Russian shells had set the presidential palace in Grozny ablaze and troops were reportedly massing for a new offensive -- this time to be led by specially trained spetsnaz forces rather than the hastily assembled and ill- prepared conscript units...
Just after Gorbachev took office in 1985, the Soviets intensified the war and appeared to gain ground. Deadly Mi-24 helicopters and elite Spetsnaz commando units regularly ambushed rebel units and supply caravans with devastating effect: mujahedin casualties rose to all-time highs. Then the Reagan Administration began shipping Stingers, those compact but lethal antiaircraft missiles, to the guerrillas. Soon the air war turned around. By one conservative estimate, the Soviets last year alone lost 270 aircraft worth about $2.2 billion...