A Sinister Force

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Yet when he first joined the Spetsnaz, he felt great pride of accomplishment. In those days, it was rare to be recruited for the Spetsnaz, and even harder to qualify. Spetsnaz veterans across the country acted as informal talent scouts, identifying promising soldiers for their old units. The recruits were fit and tough, and sometimes edging dangerously close to trouble with the law. "The saying used to be," Ivan recalls, "that you went either into the Spetsnaz or into prison." They had something else in common, veterans say: though often unsophisticated, they were usually very bright. Volodya, a well-educated officer who commanded a Spetsnaz unit, remembers his men as "some of the most intelligent people I have ever known."

The training was and is brutal; it still culminates in a session of unarmed combat that would be forbidden by any Western army. The recruit must hold out for 12 minutes against three or four successive assailants, all qualified Spetsnaz soldiers. "Basically, they try to kill you," says Alexei. Occasionally they nearly succeed, and soldiers frequently end up hospitalized after the sessions. These days, when the battered but exhilarated survivors receive their maroon berets, they sometimes get something extra. Shady-looking civilians, who are there with the blessing of senior officers and are eager to meet the graduates, have been seen handing out envelopes containing money. For many Spetsnaz veterans, such scenes point to the heart of the matter. In their view, the Spetsnaz turned mafia hit man is less to blame than the corrupt state that has left its special forces to rot.