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GRU is the English transliteration of the Russian acronym ГРУ, which stands for "Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние" (Glavnoe Razvedyvatel'noe Upravlenie), meaning Main Intelligence Directorate. The full name is GRU GSh (GRU Generalnovo Shtaba (or "GenShtaba"), i.e. "GRU of the General Staff").

History

The GRU was created in 1918 by Lenin, and given the task of handling all military intelligence. It operated residencies all over the world, along with the SIGINT (signals intelligence) station, in Lourdes, Cuba (22°59′42″N 82°27′50″W / 22.995°N 82.464°W / 22.995; -82.464), and throughout the former Soviet bloc countries, especially in Lithuania, Latvia, and most other power centers in the Soviet Union, most famously the CPSU and KGB.

The GRU was well-known in the Soviet government for its fierce independence from rival power blocs, even the Communist Party. At the time of the GRU's creation, Lenin infuriated the Cheka (predecessor of the KGB) by ordering it not to interfere with the GRU's operations. Nonetheless, the Cheka infiltrated the GRU in 1919. This planted the seed for a fierce rivalry between the two agencies, which were both engaged in espionage.

The existence of the GRU was not publicized during the Soviet era. It became widely known in Russia, and the West outside the narrow confines of the intelligence community, during perestroika, in part thanks to the writings of "Viktor Suvorov" (Vladimir Rezun), a GRU agent who defected to Britain in 1978, and wrote about his experiences in the Soviet military and intelligence services. According to Suvorov, even the general secretary of the CPSU couldn't enter GRU headquarters without going through a security screening.

The GRU is still a very important part of the Russian Federation's intelligence services, especially since it was never split up like the KGB was. The KGB was dissolved after aiding a failed coup (1991) against then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. It has since been divided into the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the FSB (Federal Security Service). Current GRU Director is General Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov.

GRU activities

According to the Federation of American Scientists: "...Though sometimes compared to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, activities encompass those performed by nearly all joint US military intelligence agencies as well as other national US organizations. The GRU gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. It also maintains significant signals intelligence and imagery reconnaissance and satellite imagery capabilities." GRU Space Intelligence Directorate had put more than 130 SIGINT satellites into orbit. GRU and KGB SIGINT network employed about 350,000 specialists.

The GRU is Russia's largest intelligence agency. It deploys six times more spys in foreign countries than the SVR which is KGB intelligence successor. It also commanded 25,000 spetsnaz troops in 1997 .

An important GRU goal is preparation for a future war. According to Victor Suvorov and another GRU defector Stanislav Lunev, "Though most Americans do not realize it, America is penetrated by Russian military intelligence to the extent that arms caches lie in wait for use by Russian special forces". He also described a possibility that compact tactical nuclear weapons known as "suitcase bombs" are hidden in the US and noted that "the most sensitive activity of the GRU is gathering intelligence on American leaders, and there is only one purpose for this intelligence: targeting information for spetsnaz (special forces) assassination squads ". The American leaders will be easily assassinated using the "suitcase bombs", according to Lunev.

GRU is also "one of the primary instructors of terrorists worldwide". Terrorist Shamil Basayev reportedly worked for this organization. GRU agent Alexei Galkin admitted that apartment bombing in Buynaksk was organized by a GRU team under general command of head of the 14th section of the Central Intelligence Office Lt. Gen. Kostechko and GRU director Valentin Korabelnikov During 2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy several GRU officers were accused by Georgian authorities of preparations to commit sabotage and terrorist acts. GRU detachments from Chechnya were transferred to Lebanon independently on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon after 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict "to improve Russia’s image in the Arab world", according to Sergei Ivanov. Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was assassinated by two GRU officers. GRU officers are accused of creating criminal death squads

It was reported that GRU helped Saddam Hussein to hide his Weapons of mass destruction before US invasion of Iraq in 2003

Miscellanea

Dmitry Kozak and Vladislav Surkov from the current Putin's administration reportedly served in GRU .

In 2002, Bill Powell wrote Treason, an account of the experiences of former GRU colonel Vyacheslav Baranov. Baranov had been recruited by the CIA and agreed to spy for them, but was betrayed to the Russians by a mole in either the FBI or CIA and spent five years in prison before being released. The identity of the mole remains unknown to this day, though some speculation mounted that it could have been Robert Hanssen.

References

1. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (2000). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-14-028487-7.
2. ^ Stanislav Lunev. Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Autobiography of Stanislav Lunev, Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-89526-390-4
3. Symposium: Al Qaeda’s Nukes by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine, October 27, 2006
4. Western leaders betray Aslan Maskhadov - by Andre Glucksmann. Prima-News, March 11, 2005
5. CHECHEN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER: BASAEV WAS G.R.U. OFFICER The Jamestown Foundation, September 08, 2006
6. Analysis: Has Chechnya's Strongman Signed His Own Death Warrant? - by Liz Fuller, RFE/RL, March 1, 2005
7. “OUR GROUP PREPARED DIVERSIONS IN CHECHNYA AND DAGESTAN”, Testimony of Senior Lieutenant Alexei Galkin, November 1999 .
8. The Operation "Successor" by Vladimir Pribylovsky and Yuriy Felshtinsky (in Russian).
9. Moscow posts two Chechen platoons in S. Lebanon, one headed by an ex-rebel commander, "to improve Russia’s image in the Arab world" by DEBKAfile
10. Special services are making teams for extrajudicial punishment (Russian) by Igor Korolkov, Novaya Gazeta, January 11, 2007.
11. Saddam's WMDs and Russia -by David Dastych, Canada Free Press, February 28, 2006
12. Russia Hid Saddam's WMDs -by Ion Mihai Pacepa, Washington Times, October 2, 2003.

See also

• Farewell Dossier
• Vatutinki
• Active measures
• SMERSH
• Leopold Trepper, an organizer of the Soviet spy ring Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) prior to World War II
• Pavel Sudoplatov
• Nuclear suitcase bomb

GRU defectors

• Viktor Suvorov
• Stanislav Lunev
• Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU officer who played an important role during Cuban Missile Crisis
• Igor Gouzenko, a GRU cipher clerk who defected in Canada
• Walter Krivitsky, a GRU defector who predicted that Stalin and Hitler will conclude the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact
• Juliet Poyntz, a founding member of the Communist Party of the United States, presumably killed for an attempt to defect

Prominent GRU agents in the past

• Whittaker Chambers, an American writer and Communist
• Alger Hiss, a senior American diplomat
• Eugene Franklin Coleman
• Irving Charles Velson
• Arvid Jacobson
• Ignacy Witczak
• Joseph Milton Bernstein
• Boris Bukov
• Alexander Ulanovsky, Lydia Stahl, Robert Osman, and Joshua Tamer
• Harold Glasser
• Mary Jane Keeney and Philip Keeney
• Manfred Stern
• Hede Massing

Further reading

• Stanislav Lunev. Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Autobiography of Stanislav Lunev, Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-89526-390-4
• Viktor Suvorov Aquarium (Аквариум), 1985, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11545-0
• Viktor Suvorov Inside Soviet Military Intelligence, 1984, ISBN 0-02-615510-9
• Viktor Suvorov Spetsnaz, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8
• Suworow, Viktor. GRU – Die Speerspitze: Was der KGB für die Polit-Führung, ist die GRU für die Rote Armee. 3., korr. Aufl. Solingen: Barett, 1995. ISBN 3-924753-18-0 Template:De icon

External links

• History of military intelligence from the Agenta.ru project (in English)
• GRU Info from FAS.org
• Another FAS site
• GRU High Command and Leading GRU Officers
• President Putin visits new GRU headquaters
• GRU structure

1. Cite error: The named reference Mitrokhin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

• Espionage
• Soviet and Russian intelligence agencies
• National security
• Intelligence agencies
• Sensitive Information
• Soviet external politics
• Politics