Mr. Vladimir Putin looks on at the GRU' Batman symbol during the visit at its headquarters. Emblem of the GRU (ГРУ), the military int...
The acronym GRU stands for the Main Intelligence Directorate. Its name was formally changed in 2010 to the Main Directorate (GU) but its old acronym GRU - is still more widely used within the circles. The GRU has a robust history reflects the Spetsnaz's swift action, the secretive organization was created in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918. Many have people heard about KGB which now then FSB. But, GRU has been a real ''Batman'' of mystery. Only recently, people learned its existence.
The revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin when established it insisted on its independence from other secret services, which saw it as a rival. Other two Russian agencies, the most widely known intelligence and security services were KGB and Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, and then Federal Security Service, or FSB. The GRU answers directly to the chief of the general staff and the Russian defense minister, each of whom are thought to have access to Russia’s portable nuclear briefcase. General Igor Valentinovich Korobov is the Chief of the GRU and hero of the Russian Federation.
The revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin when established it insisted on its independence from other secret services, which saw it as a rival. Other two Russian agencies, the most widely known intelligence and security services were KGB and Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, and then Federal Security Service, or FSB. The GRU answers directly to the chief of the general staff and the Russian defense minister, each of whom are thought to have access to Russia’s portable nuclear briefcase. General Igor Valentinovich Korobov is the Chief of the GRU and hero of the Russian Federation.
The GRU does not have a website or a direct link to the government structure nor neither does give feedback publicly on its actions. Its structure is a compartmentalized mystery, staff numbers unknown, and the financing of the agency is a highly classified state secret. The GRU has agents across the globe. It also has an elite unit inducted from Special Forces (Spetsnaz) that took part in many dark special operations including Afghanistan invasion in 1978-1980 and Chechnya and Syria. The Russian traitor, Sergei Skripal once worked in the GRU but was turned by Britain’s MI6 spy service. He is believed to have betrayed dozens of GRU spies across Europe to his British handlers.
While the GRU counts its history from 1918, when it was created in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, Putin also mentioned its predecessors in imperial Russia. He noted that some imperial army officers helped the Bolsheviks organize military intelligence after the 1917 revolution. Military intelligence officers showed the same loyalty to their duty in the early 1990s following the breakup of the Soviet Union, helping preserve the GRU potential.
They realized that there is no worse shame than to betray the Motherland, betray comrades, and at the time of turmoil and revolutionary upheavals helped preserve the continuity of the service’s traditions.--Vladamir PutinPutin made no reference to Western accusations against the GRU, but he noted that the global tension is rising. “The conflict potential in the world is growing,” Putin said in Friday’s speech. “There are provocations and blatant lies, as well as attempts to upset strategic parity.” The GRU has recently faced a series of exposures that revealed its inner workings. In September, British intelligence MI6 released surveillance images of GRU agents accused of the tainting nerve agent attack on former GRU officer and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury. Dutch authorities also have recently identified four alleged GRU agents who tried to hack the world’s chemical weapons watchdog from a hotel parking lot.
While the GRU counts its history from 1918, when it was created in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, Putin also mentioned its predecessors in imperial Russia. He noted that some imperial army officers helped the Bolsheviks organize military intelligence after the 1917 revolution. Military intelligence officers showed the same loyalty to their duty in the early 1990s following the breakup of the Soviet Union, helping preserve the GRU potential.