Editing Vympel (section)

== Formation ==
Vympel follows the lineage of Zenyth, Kaskad and Omega combined. On August 19, 1981 at a classified meeting the Soviet government made the decision for a permanent Special Operations Task Group within the KGB's First Chief Directorate. The new group was formed around the cadre of Zenith, Kaskad-1 and Kaskad-2 in order to retain the proficiency level of the operatives and to retain the lessons learned in the process of fighting irregular warfare in Afghanistan.

The founding commander of Vympel is [[Captain 1st Rank]] Ewald Kozlov, a graduate of the Baku Naval Officer School, with a service career in the [[Northern Fleet]] and the [[Caspian Flotilla]]. In 1968 he entered the Soviet Military Academy and the Military Diplomatic Academy (the training establishment of the [[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]]) after that, graduating in 1970. Right after that Kozlov transferred from the Soviet Armed Forces to the [[KGB]], entering the [[First Chief Directorate]]'s Department "S" (overseas illegal operatives). In 1972 he became an instructor at the KUOS. In 1979 he deployed with Zenyth to Afghanistan. Upon his return to the Soviet Union he headed the KUOS, a position vacated by the death of Col. Boyarinov in [[Operation Storm-333]]. Named Vympel's first commander, he was replaced in 1985 and promoted to the Headquarters of [[First Chief Directorate]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=3177|title=Козлов Эвальд Григорьевич|website=www.warheroes.ru}}</ref>

With its formation the Vympel Special Operations Task Group was put under the command of First Chief Directorate's Department "S" - the KGB's overseas clandestine service ({{lang|ru|Управление "С" (нелегальная разведка) ПГУ КГБ}}) under the covert name Independent Training Center ({{lang|ru|Отдельный учебный центр}} ({{lang|ru|ОУЦ}})). The new unit's mission statement was ordered as follows:
* intelligence gathering deep within the enemy's rear ({{lang|ru|разведывательные действия в глубоком тылу противника}})
* human intelligence ([[HUMINT]]) ({{lang|ru|агентурная работа}}) 
* diversion and assault in strategic locations of the enemy ({{lang|ru|диверсии на стратегических объектах}})
* seizure of enemy surface vessels and submarines ({{lang|ru|захват судов и подводных лодок}})
* security of Soviet diplomatic locations overseas ({{lang|ru|охрана советских учреждений за рубежом}})
* combat against terror organisations ({{lang|ru|борьба с террористическими организациями}}) and other tasks.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/spravka/20110819/419422103.html|title=История Группы специального назначения "Вымпел" КГБ СССР|date=19 August 2011}}</ref>

The unit was formed in 1981 by the KGB Maj. Gen. [[Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/world/europe/30sleepers.html |title='Illegals' Spy Ring Famed in Lore of Russian Spying |last1=Barry |first1=Ellen |date=June 29, 2010 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=27 October 2015}}</ref> within the [[First Chief Directorate]] of the KGB, as a dedicated [[spetsnaz]] unit specialised in deep penetration, [[sabotage]], universal direct and [[Covert operation|covert action]], protection of Soviet [[embassy|embassies]] and [[espionage]] [[Clandestine cell system|cell]] activation in case of war. Most of the Vympel operatives mastered two or three foreign languages since they were intended to act in foreign countries, deep behind enemy lines. Vympel was tasked with assassinating the top leadership of enemy states and destroying strategic infrastructure in the critical "special period," when the outbreak of war between the superpowers would have been unavoidable.<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>

Vympel quickly gained the reputation of being among the best Soviet special forces units, surpassing its [[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]] and [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)|MVD]] counterparts. However, after the collapse of the USSR, Vympel was decimated by endless re-organisation and re-definition. It passed under the aegis of the Security Ministry before being receded to the GUO (the two institutions were short-lived offspring of the ex-KGB during the [[Boris Yeltsin]] era) and finally passed to the MVD (Interior Ministry). However, the ''[[militsiya]]'' had no use for such a unit. The bulk of the Vympel operatives could not stand the humiliation of being subordinated to the police, and duly resigned: of 278 officers, only 57 chose to remain within the MVD. The unit was renamed "Vega."

In 1995, the [[FSB (Russia)|FSB RF]] Special Operations Center (TsSN FSB RF) was granted control over Vympel. The group regained its original name and was reintegrated into the Intelligence Service structures. The emphasis shifted from covert and clandestine sabotage operations to [[counter-terrorism]] and nuclear safety enforcement. Vympel operatives undergo special training related to improvised or special explosive devices, permitting them to use "terrorist-like" tactics to carry out their operations.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} Physical training includes close hand combat, parachute training, diving, underwater combat techniques, climbing, and alpine rope techniques. Regional groups of Vympel were deployed in cities with especially important nuclear facilities.

Vympel, abbreviation of the Directorate в (Russian Cyrillic for V) of the [[Federal Security Service|TsSN FSB]] of the Russian Federation, is still a classified and secretive unit. It took part in Russia's [[First Chechen War|Chechen campaigns]] and in storming of the [[Supreme Soviet]] building during the [[1993 Russian constitutional crisis]]. Little is known about its current operations and activities, with the exception being the capture of the Chechen militant leader [[Salman Raduyev]] in March 2000 and [[Beslan school hostage crisis|the assault on the school in Beslan]] in September 2004.

[[Vadim Krasikov]], who was named as a suspect in the murder of a Russian businessman in 2013 in Moscow and as 2022 convicted murderer of [[Zelimkhan Khangoshvili]], is - according to investigations by [[Bellingcat]] - suggested  a member or former member of Vympel.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-19 |title=Berlin Assassination: New Evidence on Suspected FSB Hitman Passed to German Investigators |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/03/19/berlin-assassination-new-evidence-on-suspected-fsb-hitman-passed-to-german-investigators/ |access-date=2022-07-30 |website=bellingcat |language=en-GB}}</ref>