GRU, Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie

Main Intelligence Directorate 

Chief of the GRU - Valentin KORABEL’NIKOV

“Our law is simple - a ruble comes in and two go out. It means it is hard to get into the organizations but it is harder to get out”. So begins what is probably the best-known book about the GRU, Akvarium [Aquarium], by Viktor Suvorov.

Sections:

• Structure
• New Headquarters
• Personnel
• The History of Military Intelligence
• Soviet Intelligence During the Great Patriotic War
• The Leaders of Military Intelligence
• Special Purpose Forces (Spetsnaz)
• Special Purpose Forces (Osnaz)
• Documents
• Sovinformsputnik, the Official GRU Agent for Commerce in Satellite Photography

Also see books about the GRU at Agentura:

• Imperiya GRU [The GRU Empire] - the most complete book today about the Main Intelligence Directorate, submitted in electronic form by A. Kolpakidi especially for Agentura.
• GRU Spetsnaz - 50 Years of History, 20 Years of War. Its author, Sergey Kozlov, submitted this book to Agentura.
• Spetsnaz of Russia - Vladimir Kvachkov.

Here is a description of the GRU by Viktor Suvorov:

The Aquarium is the main building of the 2nd Main Directorate of the General Staff, that is, the Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU. Military intelligence has existed under various names since 21 October 1918. At that time the Red Army was already a large and powerful organism. The General Staff, the brain of the army, directed it. But the responses of the [General] Staff were slow and imprecise, hence its organism was blind and deaf. Information about the enemy came from the Cheka. This so-called brain it received information not from its own eyes and ears but from another person. Yes, and the Chekists always viewed the army’s requests as something secondary. It cannot be otherwise: a secret police has its own priorities, but a General Staff has its own. And however much information a General Staff can get from someone else it will never be enough. A General Staff can always say that the information about the enemy is insufficient and hence there was a failure. Imagine that a failure has occurred, whom do you ask? And it will always be right, because no matter what it collects the Chief of the General Staff can pose a million more questions to which there is no answer. Therefore it was decided to give military intelligence to the General Staff and let the Chief of the General Staff manage it. If there is not enough information about the enemy then it is the fault of the General Staff…”

We refrain from an assessment of Viktor Suvorov and his actions, however the fact remains that military intelligence also remains the most secret Russian special service. It is the only one today without its own press service.

See also:

• SIGINT
• Space-based intelligence