Alfa Group

Alfa Group Consortium (Russian: Консорциум «Альфа-Групп») is one of Russia's largest privately owned investment groups, with interests in oil and gas, commercial and investment banking, asset management, insurance, retail trade, telecommunications, water utilities and special situation investments. Alfa Group's portfolio of companies includes Alfa-Bank, TNK-BP, VimpelCom, X5 Retail Group, A1 Group, Alfa Capital Management, AlfaStrakhovanie Group, and Rosvodokanal Group.

The group was founded in 1989 as Alfa-Eco by Mikhail Fridman, one of the most influential business leaders in Russia during the Yeltsin presidency and one of the Russian oligarchs, in partnership with German Khan, Alexei Kuzmichov and several other partners.

Its headquarters are in Moscow. As a holding company, in the financial year ending December 2010 Alfa Group had total assets of US$ 59,900 million, total equity of US$ 21,790 million and profit for the financial year of US$2,810 million. Return on shareholders' equity were recorded at 13.4%.

Spetsnaz

Spetsnaz (Russian: спецназ; IPA: [spʲɪt͜s'nas]), abbreviation for Войска специального назначения, tr. Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya pronounced [vɐjsˈka spʲɪt͡sɨˈalʲnəvə nəznɐˈt͜ɕenʲɪjə] (English: Special Purpose Forces or Special Purpose Military Units), is an umbrella term for special forces in Russian and is used in numerous post-Soviet states. Historically, the term referred to special military units controlled by the military intelligence service GRU (Spetsnaz GRU). It also describes special purpose units, or task forces of other ministries (such as the Ministry of Emergency Situations' special rescue unit) in post-Soviet countries.

As Spetsnaz is a Russian term it is typically associated with the special forces units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces by the term as well since they inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies. The 5th spetsnaz Brigade of Belarus or the Alpha group of the Security Service of Ukraine are both such examples of non-Russian Spetsnaz forces.

Alpha Group

Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group (a popular English name), or Alfa, whose official name is Directorate "A" of the FSB Special Purpose Center (TsSN FSB), is an elite, stand-alone sub-unit of Russia's special forces. It is a dedicated counter-terrorism task force of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which primarily prevents and responds to violent acts in public transportation and buildings. It was created by the Soviet KGB in 1974. Although little is known about the exact nature of its primary directives, it is speculated that the unit is authorised to act under the direct control and sanction of Russia's top political leadership, similar to its sister unit, the Directorate "B" (Vympel), which is officially tasked with protecting Russia's strategic installations. It is also available for extended police duties, for paramilitary operations, and for covert operations, both domestically and internationally.

In the Soviet Union

Creation and organization

On 28 July 1974, Alpha Group was created on the orders of the KGB Chairman, Yuri Andropov, in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich massacre. It might have been established as a response to West Germany's creation of the Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (or the GSG 9). By attaching a special-purpose unit to the office of the First Chief Directorate in Moscow (later the Seventh Directorate), it was hoped that the Soviet Union's defensive capacity against terrorist attacks would increase significantly. At the time, other, more offensive special forces of the KGB included the groups Zenit and Kaskad/Omega. Another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war.