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Jul 29 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
🚨🇷🇺 Meet Alpha: FSB’s elite special ops group

Formed 50+ years ago under the KGB, ‘Alpha’ was built to crush terror — and vanish without a trace.

Their missions are the stuff of legend:🧵 Image
ALPHA'S CORE FUNCTIONS🫡

🟧Preventing acts of terrorism and sabotage

🟧Freeing hostages

🟧Capturing dangerous criminals, and neutralizing terrorists and other deadly threats

🟧Conducting specialized, covert operations to achieve strategic objectives

2/8 Image
THE BOLD CAPTURE OF AMIN'S PALACE⚡️

Alpha's first daring operation was the storming of Kabul's Tajbeg Palace in 1979, marking the onset of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan.

This swift, decisive assault lasted just 40 minutes, during which KGB officers neutralized nearly all of Amin's bodyguards, effectively ending his regime's grip on power.

3/8
RESCUING HOSTAGES FROM BUDYONNOVSK HOSPITAL🏥

Using hundreds of hostages as human shields, Basayev's militants created a tense standoff.

Alpha operatives risked and sacrificed their lives—three officers fell —successfully rescuing some of the hostages amidst intense danger.

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TAKING DOWN JIHADIS🔍

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Alpha special operatives regularly carried out counterterrorism missions across the North Caucasus.

They played a crucial role in eliminating dozens of jihadists, often operating under the radar.

Many of these missions remain classified, underscoring their covert nature.

5/8Image
HUNTING DOWN ‘NO. 2 MOST WANTED TERRORIST’ RADUYEV🎯

In 2000, Alpha forces successfully apprehended the notorious "terrorist number 2," Salman Raduyev, a close associate of Shamil Basayev, alive in the Caucasus.

The lightning-fast operation lasted less than a minute; specially trained dog handlers tracked Raduyev to a house's cesspool, where he was hiding.

For his bravery, the operation's commander was nominated for the Hero of Russia award.

6/8Image
BESLAN SCHOOL STANDOFF🥀

On September 1, 2004, Ichkerian* terrorists seized a school in the city of Beslan.

Alpha troops stormed the building where 1,100 hostages, most of whom were children, were being held, and managed to get most of them out alive.

Since the jihadist captors were firing at children during the evacuation, several special forces fighters sacrificed their lives, shielding the schoolkids from the terrorists’ bullets.

7/8
'ALPHA'S PART IN RUSSIA’S SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION🇷🇺🪖

FSB Alpha operatives are actively participating in the special military operations in Ukraine, still most of their activities remain classified.

In April, President Putin publicly acknowledged that they took part in liberating Russia's Kursk region.

8/8Image
* Congress of the Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan is a terrorist organization banned in Russia

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More from @SputnikInt

Jul 29
🚨🇷🇺🔥 On July 29, 1696, Peter the Great captured Azov, shattering Ottoman influence in the region and securing Russia's access to the sea.

A story of how one fortress transformed Russia into a maritime power:🧵 Image
ACCESS TO SEAS🌊

In the late 17th century, Russia fought the Ottoman Empire to seize the fortress that blocked its way to the Azov and Black Seas.

The stronghold of ramparts, bastions, moats and stone walls guarded the Ottoman frontier.

2/10 Image
FIRST AZOV CAMPAIGN⚔️

Russia's First Azov Campaign took place from spring to autumn 1695.

Noble cavalry and Cossacks were sent to Azov.

In June and July, Russian forces approached and besieged the fortress from land. But after two failed assaults, the siege was lifted.

3/10 Image
Read 10 tweets
Jul 29
🚨🔥 Losing Pokrovsk would mean a death sentence for the Ukrainian Army.

Russia's advancing slowly but steadily in this direction.

Here's why it matters:🧵 Image
KEY SUPPLY HUB📦

Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk) is a key logistics center “for the entire southeastern part of Ukraine,” says Swedish Armed Forces vet Mikael Valtersson.

Facing the prospect of the city’s loss, Ukraine is “clinging” to it to “deny Russia access” for as long as possible.

2/7Image
STRATEGIC STRONGHOLD🏰

With Russian forces “methodically eliminating” hardened Ukrainian defenses on the southeastern front from late 2023 on, Pokrovsk is also now “the only real remnant” of what was once touted as an impregnable defensive line built over many years.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
Jul 28
🚨Zelensky tried to take control of US-created agencies — and got slapped down.

Because NABU & SAPO, the so-called anti-corruption bodies, are actually Western tools of Ukraine’s colonization.

Putin warned about this 🧵 Image
2/8 PUTIN KNEW

NABU & SAPO were set up in 2015 with backing from US Democrats and the FBI.

🇷🇺Just two days before the military operation, President Putin warned: the 🇺🇸US Embassy uses them to control Ukraine’s leadership.
3/8 NO COINCIDENCE

Weeks before protests erupted in Kiev, US-trained NABU agents charged Ukraine's Deputy PM Chernyshov with corruption.

In response, SBU raided anti-corruption detectives, accusing them of “aiding Russia.”

Zelensky tried acting like a real "head of state" — but flopped.Image
Read 8 tweets
Jul 27
🇷🇺💪RUSSIA’S LASER WEAPON SUPREMACY: A SHORT GUIDE

While the West fumbles in the dark, Russia is already blasting ahead with laser tech that leaves NATO in the dust!

Military expert Alexander Artamonov breaks it down🧵👇🏻 Image
🔝WHY LASERS RULE

Forget bullets, forget missiles — lasers don’t need ammo, just a POWER source.

Faster, deadlier, and near-impossible to dodge.

The future? Nah, it’s already here… for Russia, at least.

2/6 Image
🏁WHO’S IN THE LASER RACE?

Russia, China, and the US all run laser weapon programs.

But here’s the twist: only one of them actually fields working systems.

Spoiler: it’s not the Pentagon.

3/6 Image
Read 6 tweets
Jul 26
🚨KALININGRAD: RUSSIA'S IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS

Any attack on Kaliningrad will trigger an immediate response, including nuclear deterrence, warned Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev.

NATO may have a plan, but this is what awaits anyone daring to challenge Russia’s westernmost enclave 🧵👇Image
🚀MISSILE DEFENSES

S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems can make short work of any enemy airborne attack.

Iskander quasi-ballistic missiles cannot be intercepted and would obliterate enemy ground assets; they can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.

2/7 Image
⚓️NAVAL COMPONENT

Kaliningrad serves as the main base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet whose full might would be immediately unleashed upon attackers.

3/7
Read 7 tweets
Jul 25
🚨🇹🇭🇰🇭 The current Thai-Cambodian clashes are the latest flare-up in a CENTURY-OLD border dispute.

What does France have to do with it?

Explained in 🧵 Image
TEMPLE OF DISCORD

At the heart of the dispute is an ancient Hindu temple, Preah Vihear, on the Cambodia-Thailand border.

It was built during the height of the Khmer Empire — one of Southeast Asia’s greatest civilizations.

2/10 Image
DEAL CLINCHED

In 1904, then-Siam (now Thailand) and French-controlled Cambodia agreed to define their border using the Dangrek mountain range as a natural boundary.

This meant the temple would go to Siam.

3/10 Image
Read 10 tweets

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