I already made a few reviews on Russian Special Forces GRU. Keeping my word I try to give more details.
So dear ladies and gentlemen I present the 346th Spetsnaz Brigade GRU to your attention.
The 346th Spetsnaz Brigade GRU, as with the 25th Spetsnaz Regiment, was formed in 2012. The Brigade was formed in the town of Kubinka, in Odintsovsky District of Moscow. Soon after its formation it moved to the city of Prokhladniy, in the region of Kabardino-Balkaria in the Caucasus.
The reason for forming of the Brigade was the Olympic Games in Sochi for 2014. However, the fighters of these forces were never noticed as `Olympic winners’. The Centre of Spetsnaz GRU “Senezh” (in Solnechnogorsk town near Moscow) facilitated the establishment of the 346th Brigade. The 22nd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade and other units of GRU participated in the creating of the new brigade in one or other way.
The new formed brigade was specifically formed for performing reconnaissance, and special organizational tasks in the South-Western Region of Russia. As with other Spetsnaz units the Brigade is staffed by officers and contract soldiers, many who served as mountain troops, and in amphibious and special units of the Russian army.
The Brigade has an interesting chevron with a picture of St. George the Victorious. It is common for Spetsnaz units. Currently there is a fashion for such chevrons in the military, the scarier the better. (I think SS-men could be jealous. Himmler is tossing in his grave with envy).
Brigade Commander Comrade Polyakov has a well-coordinated and professional team. Combat troops are structured by the classical principle of brigades of the Special Forces, and organised in several units (battalions). Fighting and physical training are at the highest level. Accordingly the allowance is first-rate: an average soldier get about US $1200 per month, officer’s salaries are several times higher. Great attention is paid to the paratrooper and mountain training, including specialization in the Alpine heights. Arms of the specialists are by the same Russian standards, but fresher and modernized. There are notorious ‘machine-gun carts’ “Tiger” which we know from Crimea.
So I do not exclude the participation of “fighters” of the 346th Russian Special Forces Brigade in sabotage and subversive activities in the South-East of Ukraine, as in the recent events in Crimea.
(c) Irakli Komaxidze
Translated by Victoria Field