GRU
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{{Infobox Govt Agency
| agency_name = GRU Generalnovo Shtaba
| nativename = Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije
| nativename_a =
| nativename_r = Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние
| logo =
| logo_width =
| logo_caption =
| seal = GRU emblem.svg
| seal_width = 150 px
| seal_caption = GRU emblem and sleeve ensign
| formed = [[1918]]
| preceding1 =
| preceding2 =
| dissolved =
| superseding =
| jurisdiction = [[Government of Russia]]
| headquarters =
| employees =
| budget =
| minister1_name =
| minister1_pfo =
| minister2_name =
| minister2_pfo =
| chief1_name = [[General of the Army (Russia)|General of the Army]] [[Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov]]
| chief1_position = Director
| chief2_name =
| chief2_position =
| parent_agency =
| child1_agency =
| child2_agency =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}{{TOCleft}}
'''GRU''' is the [[English language|English]] [[Transliteration of Russian into English|transliteration]] of the [[Russian language|Russian]] [[acronym]] '''ГРУ''', which stands for "Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние" (''Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije''), meaning '''Main Intelligence Directorate''' of the [[General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation]]. The full name is GRU GSh (GRU Generalnovo Shtaba (or "GenShtaba"), [[id est|i.e.]] "GRU of the General Staff").
The GRU is Russia's largest intelligence agency. It deploys six times as many agents in foreign countries as the [[Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)| SVR]] which is the [[KGB]] intelligence successor. It also commanded 25,000 [[spetsnaz]] troops in [[1997]].<ref>{{Citation
| last=Lunev
| first=Stanislav
| author-link=
| title=Changes may be on the way for the Russian security services
| newspaper=The Jamestown Foundation
| volume=
| issue=
| pages=
| year=
| date=12 September 1997
| url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=4&issue_id=217&article_id=2507}}</ref>
The current GRU Director is [[General of the Army (Russia)|General of the Army]] [[Valentin Vladimirovich Korabelnikov]].
==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) [[Lourdes_SIGINT_Station|station in Lourdes, Cuba]] ({{coor d|22.995|N|82.464|W|}}), and throughout the former [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] bloc countries, especially in [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]], and [[Estonia]].
The GRU was well-known in the Soviet government for its fierce independence from rival power blocs, even the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|CPSU]] and [[KGB]]. 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, and was even more intense than the rivalry between the [[FBI]] and [[CIA]] in America would be in a future time.
The existence of the GRU was not publicized during the Soviet era. It became widely known in Russia, and the [[Western world|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 [[United Kingdom|Britain]] in [[1978]], and wrote about his experiences in the Soviet military and intelligence services. According to Suvorov, even the [[General_Secretary_of_the_Central_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union|General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] 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 [[Soviet coup attempt of 1991|failed coup in 1991]] against the then Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. It has since been divided into the [[Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)|SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service)]] and the [[Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation|FSB (Federal Security Service)]].
==Activities==
According to the [[Federation of American Scientists]]: "...Though sometimes compared to the US [[Defense Intelligence Agency]], [the GRU's] activities encompass those performed by nearly all joint US military intelligence agencies as well as other national US organizations. The GRU gathers [[HUMINT|human intelligence]] through military attaches and foreign agents. It also maintains significant [[SIGINT|signals intelligence]] and [[IMINT|imagery reconnaissance]] and [[IMINT|satellite imagery]] capabilities." [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/ops.htm] GRU Space Intelligence Directorate had put more than 130 [[SIGINT]] satellites into orbit. GRU and KGB [[SIGINT]] network employed about 350,000 specialists.<ref name="Mitrokhin"> [[Christopher Andrew]] and [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] (2000). The [[Mitrokhin Archive]]: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-14-028487-7. </ref>
According to 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 bomb]]s" are hidden in the US<ref name="Lunev"> [[Stanislav Lunev]]. ''Through the Eyes of the Enemy: The Autobiography of Stanislav Lunev'', Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1998. ISBN 0-89526-390-4 </ref><ref name="nucs"> [http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=25157 Symposium: Al Qaeda’s Nukes] by Jamie Glazov, FrontPageMagazine, October 27, 2006 </ref> 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 [in the event of war]". The American leaders will be easily assassinated using the "[[suitcase bomb]]s", according to Lunev.<ref name="Lunev"/> GRU is "one of the primary instructors of terrorists worldwide" according to Lunev <ref name="Lunev"/> Terrorist [[Shamil Basayev]] reportedly worked for this organization.<ref name="Glucksmann"> [http://prima-news.ru/eng/news/articles/2005/3/11/31434.html Western leaders betray Aslan Maskhadov] - by Andre Glucksmann. Prima-News, March 11, 2005 </ref><ref name="Basaev"> [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=416&issue_id=3848&article_id=2371430 CHECHEN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER: BASAEV WAS G.R.U. OFFICER] The Jamestown Foundation, September 08, 2006 </ref><ref name="Fuller">
[http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/03/533b2aa8-dfbd-4837-9dfe-ec64e3206aa6.html Analysis: Has Chechnya's Strongman Signed His Own Death Warrant?] - by Liz Fuller, RFE/RL, March 1, 2005 </ref>
During the [[2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy]] several officers (allegedly working for GRU) were accused by the Georgian authorities of preparations to commit [[sabotage]] and [[terrorist]] acts.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} GRU detachments from [[Chechnya]] were transferred to [[Lebanon]] independently of the [[United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon]] after the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]] "to improve Russia’s image in the Arab world", according to [[Sergei Ivanov]].<ref name="debka4"> [http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3354 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 </ref> [[Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev]] was assassinated by two GRU officers. GRU officers have also been accused of creating criminal [[death squads]]<ref name="Korolkov"> [http://2007.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2007/01n/n01n-s00.shtml Special services are making teams for extrajudicial punishment (Russian)] by Igor Korolkov, [[Novaya Gazeta]], January 11, 2007. [http://lrtranslations.blogspot.com/2007/02/spare-organs.html English translation]</ref>
==Miscellaneous==
[[Image:Evstafiev-spetsnaz-prepare-for-mission.jpg|thumb|right|A GRU [[Spetsnaz]] unit prepares for a helicopter mission at [[Kabul]] airport in [[Soviet war in Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] in 1988. Photo by [[Mikhail Evstafiev]].]]
===Chechnya===
[[Dmitry Kozak]] and [[Vladislav Surkov]] from the current [[Putin]] administration reportedly served in GRU.[http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2006/11/17/6451.shtml] Two Chechen former [[warlords]] [[Said-Magomed Kakiev]] and [[Sulim Yamadayev]] are commanders of "West" and "East" battalions that are controlled by GRU (each battalion includes close to a thousand fighters). <ref name="lords"> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1796576,00.html Land of the warlords], by Nick Paton Walsh, [[Guardian Unlimited]] </ref>
===Baranov===
In [[2002]], Bill Powell wrote ''Treason'',<ref>{{Harvard reference |last=Powell |first=Bill |authorlink= |year=2002 |date=2002-11-01 |title=Treason: How a Russian Spy Led an American Journalist to a U.S. Double Agent |place= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition= |volume= |id=ISBN 0743229150 |url= |access-date=}}</ref> 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 (espionage)|mole]] in either the [[FBI]] or the CIA and spent five years in prison before being released. The identity of the mole remains unknown to this day, although speculation has mounted that it could have been [[Robert Hanssen]].
===Historic agents===
* [[Whittaker Chambers]], an American journalist and ex-GRU agent who broke with Communism in 1938
* [[Alger Hiss]], a senior American diplomat<ref name="Mitrokhin"/>
* [[George Koval]], a scientist who stole atomic secrets from the Manhattan Project.
*[[Eugene Franklin Coleman]]
*[[Arvid Jacobson]]
*[[Joseph Milton Bernstein]]
*[[Boris Bukov]]
*[[Lydia Stahl]],
*[[Robert Osman]]
*[[Harold Glasser]]
*[[Mary Jane Keeney]] and [[Philip Keeney]]
*[[Hede Massing]]
*[[Irving Charles Velson]], [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]]; [[American Labor Party]] candidate for New York State Senate
*[[William Spiegel]]
*[[Vincent Reno]]
*[[Ward Pigman]]
*[[Richard Sorge]]
===GRU "Illegals"===
*[[Boris Devyatkin]]
*[[Manfred Stern|Moishe Stern]]
*[[Joshua Tamer]]
*[[Alfred Tilton]]
*[[Alexander Ulanovsky]]
*[[Ignacy Witczak]]
*[[Yakov Grigorev]]
<!-- lives in the U.S.A. -->
=====Naval GRU=====
*[[Jack Fahy]] (Naval GRU), Office of the [[Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]]; [[Board of Economic Warfare]]; [[United States Department of the Interior]]
*[[Edna Patterson]] Naval GRU, served in US August 1943 to 1956
===GRU defectors===
* [[Viktor Suvorov]]
* [[Stanislav Lunev]]
* [[Oleg Penkovsky]], a GRU officer who played an important role during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]]
* [[Igor Gouzenko]], a GRU cipher clerk who defected in Canada
* [[Walter Krivitsky]], a GRU defector who predicted that [[Stalin]] and [[Hitler]] would conclude a [[Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact]]
* [[Juliet Poyntz]], a founding member of the [[Communist Party of the United States]], allegedly killed for an attempt to defect
* [[Iavor Entchev]], a communist member of GRU; defected to United States during Cold War.
==Further reading==
* [[David M. Glantz]]. ''Soviet military intelligence in war.'' Cass series on Soviet military theory and practice ; 3. London: Cass, 1990. ISBN 0-7146-3374-7, ISBN 0-7146-4076-X
* Raymond W. Leonard. ''Secret soldiers of the revolution: Soviet military intelligence, 1918-1933.'' Contributions in military studies ; 183. Westport, Conn. ; London : Greenwood Press, 1999. ISBN 0-313-30990-6
* [[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 (Suvorov)|Aquarium]]'' ({{lang|ru|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
===Fiction===
* The GRU appears in and plays a significant plot role in the [[video game]] ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]''.
* The GRU is noted in the book ''[[Deep Six (Clive Cussler book)|Deep Six]]'' by [[Clive Cussler]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.agentura.ru/english/dosie/gru/story/ History of military intelligence] from the Agentura.ru project (in English)
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/world/russia/gru/index.html Information from FAS.org]
* [http://fas.org/irp/world/russia/fbis/IntelligenceGRU.html Another FAS site]
* [http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20061109/55488751.html President Putin visits new GRU headquarters]
* [http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov8/25.html GRU High Command and leading GRU officers]
* [http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060509/93522495.html Ivan Ilyichev – Head of GRU]
* [http://www.sadcom.com/PINS/gru.htm GRU structure]
==See also==
* [[Farewell Dossier]]
* [[Vatutinki]]
* [[Active measures]]
* [[SMERSH]]
* [[Leopold Trepper]], an organizer of the [[Soviet]] [[spy]] ring [[Red Orchestra (spy)|Rote Kapelle]] (Red Orchestra) prior to [[World War II]]
* [[Pavel Sudoplatov]]
* Nuclear [[suitcase bomb]]
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[[Category:1918 establishments]]
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[[Category:Military intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:Post-Soviet Russia]]
[[Category:Signals intelligence agencies]]
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