By: Warren Gray
Copyright © 2023
“On the 24th of December 2018…documentary footage (now removed) shows
a group of SVR operators running close-quarter, combat drills and other
weapon-manipulation exercises. This was an unprecedented look into the
inner workings of the SVR…There is absolutely no mention of Zaslon, yet…
these operators are almost certainly Zaslon, due to their equipment,
trademark, olive-colored uniform, and weapons of choice.”
— Ahmed Hassan, CEO of Grey Dynamics, January 31, 2023
The Russian Federation’s Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR), or Foreign Intelligence Service, with its headquarters in the Yasenevo District, just south of the Moscow Ring Road, is their mysterious counterpart to the American CIA, tasked with intelligence collection, espionage activities, and anti-terrorist cooperation abroad. Established by a secret, presidential decree in 1997, the Top-Secret Zaslon (meaning “Barrier” or “Screen”) Special Operations Unit, within the Seventh Section of the Internal Security Department, became fully operational in 1998, although its very existence is still officially denied by the Russian government. However, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin inadvertently blew Zaslon’s cover in 2014 by posting a note on Twitter that said, “Thanks to officers of the Zaslon unit for providing security in the territory of Lebanon and Syria.”
This is the most-secretive of all Russian Special Forces, established mainly to provide armed protection for Russian diplomats stationed overseas, primarily in hostile or unstable regions, or for high-ranking Russian officials on foreign trips. But they’re also responsible for protecting SVR agents and officials during operational assignments, rescuing Russian citizens abroad, evacuating Russian citizens from war zones, recovering sensitive documents and equipment from endangered, Russian embassies abroad, and protecting pro-Russian, host-nation leadership figures, especially in Syria. They have also been used to train host-nation forces in security operations and weapons employment, and for covert, counterterrorist operations.
Accordingly, Zaslon commando teams are usually based within the Russian Embassy in any foreign country of interest. The unit consists of approximately 300 men, recruited primarily from other special operations forces, with an emphasis on knowledge of foreign languages, weapons, and physical training. They were reinforced in 2003 from the dissolved Sigma group (or Group C), a special unit of the Border Guard Service, with extensive, successful experience in reconnaissance and sabotage operations on the Tajik-Afghan border, and in the North Caucasus region, including Chechnya, Dagestan, and North Ossetia.
Since 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin may personally and legally issue virtually any secret orders to the SVR and Zaslon, without consulting the parliament (State Duma) or national legislature (Federation Council.) Thus, they may be tasked totally autonomously, independently of the Russian armed forces or Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU). Aside from protecting Russian personnel at embassies in high-risk regions, Zaslon operators are also, not surprisingly, trained in special reconnaissance, mine-clearing, explosives, assassinations, and sabotage.
Arguably, the most-elite of U.S. special operations forces today is the CIA’s paramilitary Special Operations Group (SOG), because all of its members are highly-educated college graduates with at least eight years of prior military experience, have various language skills, all are jump-qualified parachutists, trained with U.S. and foreign weapons, and have extensive computer skills for filing field reports. Since they are technically civilians, military rules and regulations do not apply, and their presence can be plausibly denied.
However, while Zaslon is the similar, paramilitary arm of the Russian SVR, many of its functions are closer to those of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), protecting our embassies overseas. Zaslon operators reportedly function from day to day with the professional skills of maintenance or technical personnel, as gardeners, plumbers, electricians, etc., when not on duty as Zaslon commandos, providing for the daily routine of embassies and permanent missions. This arrangement allows the Russians to officially deny the existence of armed, special operations forces inside their diplomatic missions, since the Zaslon men are listed as maintenance personnel.
In March 2003, Zaslon units were sent into Iran and Iraq on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, to protect the embassies and diplomatic personnel in both locations. In June 2006, two Zaslon operators and three Russian embassy employees were ambushed by terrorists at the Baghdad market. One Zaslon man was killed on-site, while the rest were captured and later shot or beheaded, in Zaslon’s first public failure. Zaslon has definitely been operating from the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, since May 10, 2013, protecting high-level Russian and Syrian officials.
Zaslon teams were also instrumental in rescuing Russian nationals during the fall of the Qaddafi regime in Libya in 2011. On December 19, 2016, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated in downtown Ankara, Turkey, shot in the back by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty, Turkish, riot-police officer. It was quickly confirmed that the Turkish government had not allowed Zaslon commandos into the country.
Zaslon teams were photographed in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August 2021, to protect the Russian Embassy and staff during Joe Biden’s disastrous and chaotic, total capitulation to the Taliban. Since then, Zaslon personnel have been assigned in Afghanistan, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela, almost always in very high-risk locations.
Zaslon operators in uniform, with Lowa Zephyr GTX boots at far left. Photo credit: Russia Defense
Unlike most Russian special operations forces, Zaslon troops normally wear ordinary, olive-drab, assault uniforms, but MultiCam camouflage began to be issued in 2017. In desert regions, such as the Middle East, the uniforms are often all tan. Sometimes, parts of the uniform or body armor are black. There are no rank insignia or unit badges, but they frequently wear a Russian flag patch, sometimes stating “Embassy of Russia” in English below the flag. A skull-and-crossed-swords patch (allegedly the notorious emblem of British pirate Captain John “Calico Jack” Rackham from 1718 to 1720) is often worn. Black leather, VKBO combat boots have been worn in the past, but modern, lightweight hiking boots such as the Lowa (German-made) Zephyr GTX ($230) in Wolf Gray are more popular now.
Zaslon commando with uniform patches. Photo credit: Russia Defense
While standard, military, AK-74M assault rifles in 5.45x39mm have been seen in the hands of Zaslon operators, they show a marked preference for the AK-104 or newer AK-15K in 7.62x39mm, due to their increased stopping power, and the greater availability of older, 7.62mm AK-47 ammunition in many of the poorer, Third-World countries where Zaslon must operate. AK-103 rifles in 7.62x39mm have also been employed.
Indeed, Zaslon’s preferred, standard weapon is the AK-104 or AK-15K (when available), with a JMAC Custom muzzle brake and a Molot or Kalashnikov 75-round, drum magazine from the outdated, RPK light machine gun. Four to eight additional, 30-round magazines are typically worn on the assault vest and web gear. Suppressors have been photographed fitted to their assault carbines. This weapon selection allows the Zaslon men to provide massive, suppressive gunfire during the first moments of any hostile engagement.
Likewise, Zaslon’s preferred pistol is the standard-issue, PYa Yarygin (MP-443 Grach, or “Rook”) in 9x19mm, with an 18-round magazine. But they also apparently use the newer, Skat GM-100 Sports Pistol or Orsis Glock, unlicensed, Russian copies of the Glock-17 in 9x19mm, or even actual, Austrian-made Glock-17s.
The reasoning is basically the same as with the 7.62x39mm cartridge, since the 9x19mm round is universally available worldwide. This was why the American CIA transitioned to FN Hi-Power pistols in the 1960s to late 1980s, when U.S. Armed Forces were still using the Colt M1911A1 service handgun in .45 ACP. The CIA realized that 9mm ammo was available almost everywhere, and the Hi-Power was not a standard, American firearm.
There are currently numerous gaps in our limited knowledge of the elite Zaslon unit, however. In all of the various reports, photos, and video clips, there is still no mention of parachute training or qualification, no jump wings, no helicopters or tactical air support, no tactical ground vehicles, and no college-education requirements. Indeed, the blue-collar cover jobs as maintenance personnel at Russian embassies indicate a distinct lack of higher education. The only observed sniper rifle has been the highly-accurate Kalashnikov SV-98 in 7.62x54mmR, a readily-available cartridge in most parts of the world.
Kalashnikov SV-98 sniper rifle in 7.62x54mmR. Photo credit: weaponews.com
Zaslon operators appear to be more similar to U.S. State Department DSS agents than anything else, except that the DSS requires a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and 29 weeks of intensive training. Interestingly enough, though, DSS mobile security agents dress in solid-green, Blackhawk assault uniforms, just like Zaslon men, carry Glock pistols on their belts (Glock-19M for DSS, versus Glock-17 for Zaslon), and handle Colt M4A1 carbines or very short, Mk. 18 carbines in 5.56x45mm. (See my Gunpowder Magazine article on “Protecting the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv” from June 3, 2020, for more information.)
DSS mobile security agent with Mk. 18 carbine and Glock-19M pistol in New York City, 2019. Photo credit: U.S. State Department
Typical Zaslon weapons loadout, with AK-104 carbine, PYa pistol, and RPG-26. Photo credit: devtsix.com
The typical weapons loadout for a Zaslon operator consists of an AK-104 or AK-15K assault carbine with 75-round, drum magazine installed, eight more 30-round magazines in the chest rig or on the web belt, and an optional suppressor. A Yarygin PYa pistol or Glock-17 copy is the standard service handgun, and an RPG-26 72.5mm rocket-propelled, grenade launcher is sometimes carried on a shoulder strap. Two RGN or RGO hand grenades are usually carried, along with a first-aid kit, and belt survival kit.
No combat knives are shown, but many Zaslon operators are former military SpetsNaz commandos, and a large number of Russian special operations troopers privately purchase fighting knives from Kizlyar Supreme, handcrafted in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, which was a war-torn region in 1999. Favorite fighting knives include the Kizlyar DV-2 (an abbreviation for “Far East-2,” $125) Bowie-style, Voron-3 (“Raven-3,” $68), and Korshun (“Kite,” the bird, $75), with the Kizlyar Cerberus or KO-2 ($75) daggers being imposing, new, tactical designs.
The obvious question to be asked is whether Zaslon operators have been fighting in Ukraine. The Russian Embassy at 27 Povitroflotskyi Prospekt in Kyiv officially opened on August 6, 1992, but it was totally evacuated on February 23, 2022, the day before the unprovoked and illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which all diplomatic relations were permanently severed. On April 20, 2023, the Kyiv City Council formally terminated the lease contract by “Russian barbarians” for the building, and returned the property to the Ukrainian government. So, there is nothing in Ukraine for Zaslon to protect, and they have no jurisdiction to operate on Russian soil in that embattled region.
However, Zaslon’s unique training in special reconnaissance, explosives, assassinations, and sabotage raises intriguing questions, especially since they are an ultra-secret, plausibly-deniable, non-military unit that does not officially exist. Covert raids behind enemy lines into Ukraine are certainly authorized, on direct orders from Vladimir Putin himself, without parliamentary approval, and Zaslon appears to travel very light and fast, with an aggressive and overwhelming application of firepower upon initial contact with hostile forces. There has to be a very valid reason for all of the deep mystery and secrecy surrounding them.
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Warren Gray is a retired, U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with experience in joint special operations and counterterrorism. He served in Europe (including Eastern Europe) and the Middle East, earned Air Force and Navy parachutist wings, four college degrees, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Intelligence Operations Specialist Course, and the USAF Combat Targeting School. He is currently a published author, historian, and hunter. You may view his website at: warrengray54.com.