The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Russian: Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых Сил Росси́йской Федера́ции), abbreviated G.U., fFormerly the Main Intelligence Directorate (Russian: Гла́вное разве́дывательное управле́ние, tr. Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye, IPA: [ˈɡlavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə]) and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU[1] (Russian: ГРУ, IPA: [ɡeeˈru]), is the foreign military-intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (formerly the USSR′s General Staff). Unlike Russia's other security and intelligence agencies, such as the SVR, the FSB, and the FSO, whose heads report directly to the president of Russia, the Director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, i.e. the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff. Until 2010, and again from 2013, the GRU controlled the military intelligence service and the General Staff special forces.
The Directorate is reputedly Russia's largest foreign-intelligence agency. According to unverified statements by Stanislav Lunev, a defector from the GRU, in 1997 the agency deployed six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, the successor of the KGB's foreign operations directorate (PGU KGB). It also commanded25,000 Spetsnaz troops as of 1997.
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Years ago, there was a fire at the house I was living in and everything I owned was lost. I never thought I would be able to replace the medals/ribbons that I was awarded while serving. Until I came across your site. Thank you!!!!
