Editing Alpha Group (section)

==In the Soviet Union==
===Creation and organization===
On 28 July 1974, Alpha Group was created on the orders of the [[KGB]] Chairman, [[Yuri Andropov]], in the aftermath of the [[Munich massacre|1972 Munich massacre]]. It might have been established as a response to [[West Germany]]'s creation of the ''Grenzschutzgruppe 9'' (or the [[GSG 9]]).<ref name="Cox2001">{{cite book|author=David Cox|title=Close Protection: The Politics of Guarding Russia's Rulers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsB-5-e0RwgC&pg=PA59|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96688-1|page=59}}</ref> By attaching a special-purpose unit to the office of the [[First Chief Directorate]] in [[Moscow]] (later the Seventh Directorate<ref name=early/>), it was hoped that the Soviet Union's defensive capacity against terrorist attacks would increase significantly. At the time, other, more offensive special forces of the KGB included the groups Zenit and Kaskad/Omega. Another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war.<ref>{{Cite web|title = KGB Spetsnaz & World War III|url = http://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2015/04/17/kgb-spetsnaz-world-war-iii/|website = Espionage History Archive|access-date = 2015-08-24|first = Mark|last = Hackard|date = 17 April 2015|author-link=Mark Hackard}}</ref>

Later, territorial Alpha units were established across the Soviet Union:<ref name=ua>{{cite web|url=http://alfa.org.ua/?r=history |title=Международная Ассоциация Ветеранов Подразделений Антитеррора "Альфа" |publisher=Alfa.org.ua |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> 
* 7th Group formed in the [[Russian SSR]], [[Khabarovsk Krai]] 
* 10th Group formed the [[Ukrainian SSR]], [[Kiev Oblast]] – Later forming the basis of Ukraine's [[Alpha Group (Ukraine)|Alpha Group]]
* 11th Group formed in the [[Belarusian SSR]], [[Minsk Region|Minsk Oblast]] – Later forming the basis of Belarus' [[Alpha Group (Belarus)|Alpha Group]]
* 12th Group formed in the [[Kazakh SSR]], [[Almaty Province|Almaty Oblast]] – Later forming the basis of Kazakh [[National Security Committee (Kazakhstan)|NSC ''Arystan'' unit]]
* 13th Group formed in the [[Russian SSR]], [[Krasnodar Krai]]
* 14th Group formed in the [[Russian SSR]], [[Sverdlovsk Oblast]]

===Operations===
Initially, this special-purpose [[counter-terrorism]] unit was involved in delicate operations which necessitated its members have a unique skill set. In 1979, the Alpha Group shot a young Soviet Ukrainian, named Yuri Vlasenko, who was occupying a room in the Consular Section of the [[Embassy of the United States in Moscow]], demanding he be granted asylum in the United States. He was either killed by gunfire, or by the detonation of his home-made bomb, which also slightly damaged the building.<ref name=map/><ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19790330&id=vzhIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XoEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=967,414161 Account Given of Embassy's Fatal Explosion], ''Washington Post'', 30 March 1979.</ref> Throughout the 1980s, Alpha became increasingly deployed domestically to respond to a rising number of [[hostage taking]] situations, including at least two cases which involved buildings being taken over and hostages taken by violent groups of deserters from the [[Soviet Army]], as well as other armed organizations.<ref name=map>{{cite web |url=http://www.alphagroup.ru/group-a/map/ |title=Операции Группы "А" |publisher=Alphagroup.ru |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028091322/http://www.alphagroup.ru/group-a/map/ |archive-date=28 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Airline hijackings were another growing security concern within the Soviet Union which Alpha were deployed to solve. Between the 1970 [[Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair]] and 1986, sixteen incidents of air piracy had occurred on Aeroflot flights, six in 1978 alone. Notably, the 1983 hijacking of [[Aeroflot Flight 6833]] in [[Tbilisi]], [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]], was thwarted when Alpha stormed the airplane, killing three and capturing three other hijackers who were attempting to escape to the west, which also resulted in the loss of five hostages. Alpha members also participated in the storming of a [[Tupolev Tu-134|Tu-134]] during an [[Aeroflot Flight 36075 (1986)|attempted Tu-134 hijacking]] by deserters at [[Ufa International Airport]] on September 20, 1986. The two hijackers, having previously killed two policemen in a shootout, then killed two passengers while seizing the aircraft. Alpha operatives stormed the plane, killing one hijacker and wounding the other.<ref>{{Cite web |title=6 dead in hijack attempt in Ufa in the Soviet Urals - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/09/22/6-dead-in-hijack-attempt-in-Ufa-in-the-Soviet-Urals/8631527745600/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-24 |title=ЛЕГЕНДА СПЕЦНАЗА — СПЕЦНАЗ РОССИИ - "Альфа"-Инфо |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024200811/http://www.specnaz.ru/articles/230/19/2343.htm |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref>

The unit also became involved in [[Ethnic conflicts in the Soviet Union|the ethnic conflicts]] throughout the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref name="rulers" /> Alpha was also used as the "spearhead" of KGB [[counterintelligence]] operations, interdicting hostile intelligence operations<ref>{{Cite web|title = Spy Snatchers: KGB Alpha Group|url = http://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2015/04/09/snatch-grab-the-kgbs-alpha/|website = Espionage History Archive|access-date = 2015-08-24|first = Mark|last = Hackard|date = 9 April 2015}}</ref> on Soviet territory and seizing enemy spies such as CIA agent [[Adolf Tolkachev]] in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Downfall of Agent Sphere|url = http://espionagehistoryarchive.com/2015/08/14/tolkachev-cia-kgb-counterintelligence/|website = Espionage History Archive|access-date = 2015-08-24|first = Mark|last = Hackard|date = 14 August 2015}}</ref> Two commanding officers of Group "A" were awarded the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]: Gen. [[Viktor Fyodorovich Karpukhin|Viktor Karpukhin]] and Gen. Gennady Zaitsev.<ref name="history" />

====Foreign operations====
Soon, Alpha was assigned missions far exceeding its formal scope.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psan.org/document514.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201075302/http://www.psan.org/document514.html |archive-date=2008-02-01 |title=The End of the KGB |access-date=3 March 2014}}</ref> On 27 December 1979, Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] launched a surprise armed intervention and [[regime change]] operation in the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]]. Soviet forces, including KGB commandos who had infiltrated the country on a pretense to guard the Soviet Embassy,<ref name=spies>Jeffery T. Richelson, ''A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century'', page 359.</ref> were able to quickly secure important government institutions throughout [[Kabul]].  Those institutions included: the Ministry of the Interior; the headquarters of the [[KHAD]] security service; the Ministry of Defense ([[Darul Aman Palace]]); and the [[Tajbeg Palace]], in which, during a 34-minute storming, they successfully assassinated President [[Hafizullah Amin]], along with his [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]] and his young son (the orders were to kill every Afghan in the building).<ref name="Cox2001"/><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8428701.stm How Soviet troops stormed Kabul palace], BBC News, 27 December 2009.</ref><ref name="HastedtGuerrier2010">{{cite book|author1=Glenn Peter Hastedt|author2=Steven W. Guerrier|title=Spies, Wiretaps, and Secret Operations: An Encyclopedia of American Espionage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8WoNp2vI-cC&pg=PA732|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-808-8|page=732}}</ref> The assault on Tajbeg Palace was given the name [[Operation Storm-333]] and involved a combined force of [[Soviet Airborne Troops|Soviet Airborne paratroopers (VDV)]], and special forces groups from the [[Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye|GRU]] and the KGB, including 24 men from the "Thunder" detachment of Alpha Group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vpk-news.ru/articles/425 |title=Article on Storm-333 at |language=ru |publisher=Vpk-news.ru |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127142653/http://vpk-news.ru/articles/425 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Alpha detachment were dressed in Afghan uniforms and headed by Grigoriy Boyarinov, commandant of the special operations school of the KGB's Department 8. It was Boyarinov who ordered that all Afghan witnesses of the operation be killed, and he was accidentally shot dead by Alpha troops when he was mistaken for a palace guard.<ref name=spies/> According to Russian sources, the members of this highly trained group performed remarkably well, losing only two men; the lightest casualties of any of the forces involved in the raid.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.specnaz.ru/istoriya/390/ Baikal-79] by A. Lyakhovskiy</ref> However, the success of [[Storm-333]], and the initial invasion, marked the beginning of the ten-year [[Soviet–Afghan War]], and subsequently, Alpha Group's extensive involvement throughout the conflict.<ref name=disaster/>

Six years later, in October 1985, Alpha Group was dispatched to war-torn [[Beirut]], Lebanon. [[Kremlin|The Kremlin]] was informed of the kidnapping of four Soviet diplomats by the militant group, the Islamic Liberation Organization (a radical offshoot of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]). It was believed that this was retaliation for the Soviet support of [[Syrian occupation of Lebanon|Syrian involvement]] in the [[Lebanese Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4072 |title=Terrorist Organization Profile&nbsp;– START&nbsp;– National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism |publisher=Start.umd.edu |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=21 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221123528/http://start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4072 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, by the time Alpha arrived, one of the hostages had already been killed. Through a network of supporting KGB operatives, members of the task-force identified each of the perpetrators involved in the crisis, and once identified, began to take the relatives of these militants as hostages. Following the standard Soviet policy of ''no negotiations with terrorists'', one of the hostages taken by Alpha Group had his testicles removed and sent to the militants before being killed. The warning was clear: more would follow unless the remaining hostages were released immediately.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1986-01-15/news/26052630_1_hostage-crisis-soviet-captives-islamic-liberation-organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010144012/http://articles.philly.com/1986-01-15/news/26052630_1_hostage-crisis-soviet-captives-islamic-liberation-organization |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 October 2014 |title=Hostages? No Problem Soviets Offer 'How-to' Lesson in Kidnapping |publisher=philly.com |date= 15 January 1986}}</ref> The show of force worked; and, for a period of 20 years, no Soviet or Russian officials were taken captive, until the 2006 [[Abduction of Russian diplomats in Iraq|abduction and murder]] of four Russian embassy staff in Iraq. However, the veracity of this story has been brought into question. Another version says that the release of the Soviet hostages was the result of extensive diplomatic negotiations with the spiritual leader of [[Hezbollah]], Grand Ayatollah [[Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah]], who appealed to King [[Hussein of Jordan]], and the leaders of Libya and Iran, to use their influence on the kidnappers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chekist.ru/article/2257 |title=Вячеслав Лашкул. Бейрутская операция советской разведки » Чекист.ru |publisher=Chekist.ru |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-date=5 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905050900/http://www.chekist.ru/article/2257 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Fall of the Soviet Union===
====Intervention in the Baltics====
On 11 March 1990, the [[Supreme Council of Lithuania|Supreme Council]] of the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]] made public their intent to secede from the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania|re-establish the independent Republic of Lithuania]]. As a result of this pronouncement, on 9 January 1991, the Soviet leadership dispatched Alpha Group to quell the independence movement and maintain Lithuania's status as a [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet republic]]. This attempt to re-establish Soviet dominance culminated in the violent seizure of the [[Vilnius TV Tower]] on [[January Events (Lithuania)|13 January 1991]], during which the Soviet forces killed 13 unarmed Lithuanian protesters, as well as one Alpha operative (Lt. Viktor Shatskikh, who was apparently struck in the back by [[friendly fire]]). In 2011, the former commander of Alpha Group, retired KGB Col. [[Mikhail Golovatov]], was detained at [[Vienna International Airport]] on a [[European Arrest Warrant]] due to this incident, issued by Lithuania, but Austrian authorities released him within 24 hours, claiming that the information provided by Lithuania was "too vague".<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14202371 Baltic fury over Austria's release of ex-Soviet officer], BBC News, 19 July 2011.</ref> In response, the Lithuanian parliament discussed breaking diplomatic ties with Austria in protest.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} A joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of all three [[Baltic States]] condemned Golovatov's release, and said that it should have been one of "... the occasions when suspects are detained and extradited, particularly when they are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity ..." as "... the crimes performed in 1991 in [[Vilnius]] and [[Riga]] have no limitation ..." ("Riga" referring to [[The Barricades|a similar crackdown]] in January 1991, when six Latvian policemen and civilians were killed by Soviet [[OMON]] and KGB forces, possibly including Alpha Group members).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.am.gov.lv/en/news/press-releases/2011/july/19-1/ |title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia: The Baltic states demonstrate their unity over the release of Golovatov |publisher=Am.gov.lv |date=19 July 2011 |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927145535/http://www.am.gov.lv/en/news/press-releases/2011/july/19-1/ |archive-date=27 September 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt====
During the events of the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|Soviet coup attempt]] in August 1991, Alpha Group's commanding officer, Gen. Karpukhin, was commanded by KGB chairman [[Vladimir Kryuchkov]] to forcibly enter the [[White House, Moscow|White House]], Russia's acting parliament, after paratroopers secured the entrance, to eliminate the President of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[Boris Yeltsin]], and various other anti-coup leaders assembled there. In addition to Alpha Group, Gen. Karpukhin was also given authority of [[Vympel|Vega Group (Vympel)]], elements of the Soviet Airborne, [[Internal Troops]], special units of the Dzerzhinsky Division ([[Separate Operational Purpose Division|OMSDON]]), mobilised units of the Moscow OMON, three tank companies, and a squadron of helicopters. On-site analysis of the area was conducted by Airborne deputy commander [[Alexander Lebed]], and other senior officers who mingled with the crowds of anti-coup protesters nearest to the White House. There was a general consensus among the military officials who gathered that day, as evidenced by their statements months after the botched coup attempt, that had they followed through on their endeavour it would have succeeded. The stated mission objectives could have been reached in no more than half-an-hour, but it would have come at a terrible human cost.<ref>David Satter, ''Age of Delirium: The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Union'', pg. 18.</ref> Shortly after their assessment was made, Gen. Karpukhin and [[Vympel]]'s Boris Beskov convinced the KGB Deputy chairman, Gennady Ageyev, that such a massive undertaking should be cancelled.<ref name=91internalkgbreport>{{cite web |url=http://www.flb.ru/material.phtml?id=3632 |title=September 1991 internal KGB report on the involvement of KGB in the coup |publisher=Flb.ru |access-date=3 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408051034/http://www.flb.ru/material.phtml?id=3632 |archive-date=8 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=NovayaGazeta51>{{in lang|ru}} [http://2001.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2001/51n/n51n-s15.shtml "Novaya Gazeta" No. 51 of 23 July 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215063833/http://2001.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2001/51n/n51n-s15.shtml |date=15 February 2012 }} (extracts from the indictment of the conspirators).</ref><ref name=Timeline>{{in lang|ru}} [http://archive.rusbg.com/viewtopic.php?p=183469&sid=ab7f23384901f822938fcbc1b4e31240 Timeline of the events], by Artem Krechnikov, Moscow BBC correspondent  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127115224/http://archive.rusbg.com/viewtopic.php?p=183469&sid=ab7f23384901f822938fcbc1b4e31240 |date=27 November 2007 }}</ref><ref name=Argumenty>[http://nd.flb.ru/?path=3&info_id=1222&text_version=19 ''Argumenty i Fakty''], 15 August 2001. {{dead link|date=February 2013}}</ref>