Морской спецназ: Тактика и операции подводных диверсантов

Tactical scuba diving unit

The Russian commando frogmen (Морской спецназ), informally called "commando frogmen" in civilian media, are a Russian Naval Spetsnaz unit under operational subordination to the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU). It is the special forces unit of the Russian Naval Infantry and is composed of highly trained and elite marines within the Naval Infantry. By virtue of belonging to the Russian Naval Infantry, frogmen fall under the Coastal Troops of the Russian Navy service arm. The Russian Navy proper does not field any special forces or special operations units. Russian FSB special forces Alpha Group and Vympel also have frogman units in their respective naval components.

Reconnaissance diver (Водолаз разведчик, tr: Vodolaz razvedchik) is a Russian term for members of a special purpose unit of the Russian or Soviet Naval Spetsnaz – SpN VMF (СпН ВМФ). Сombat swimmer (Боевой пловец, tr: ) is a Russian term meaning members of special purpose anti sabotage divers' units. The public media and others who do not serve in the Russian and/or Soviet Naval Spetsnaz, sometimes use this term unofficially for meaning. Naval spetsnaz man ( Морской спецназовец, tr: Morskoy spetsnazovets) is an unofficial Russian term for meaning.

January–May 1995: Several seamen, midshipmen, warrant officers and officers from different OMRPs took part in the First Chechen War as volunteers. They were included in naval infantry units and operated as conventional marines in reconnaissance units, not as a separate Spetsnaz unit. 2004: The Russian state controlled Channel One showed a documentary film dedicated to some Spetsnaz operations which were not known to the general public. The film is called Spetsnaz: the Operations. Among other stories, the film depicted an episode about the tactics of Russian combat swimmers from a PDSS unit. The episode was based on a real incident that occurred a few years earlier in a Russian naval base. Agents of a Russian PDSS team had detected activity of foreign frogmen. According to the film's narrator, these frogmen were well trained professionals who planned to accomplish a terrorist act inside the base as a Russian warship was arriving in harbour. The intruders had recruited a local man as a source of information. They planned to destroy a pier, together with the relatives of naval officers and sailors, by the remote detonation of a special mine. During fast and bloody combat, all the foreign frogmen were killed; their weaponry, explosive devices and diving equipment were captured by the PDSS team. 12 August 2008: During the Russo Georgian War, combat swimmers of the Russian Black Sea Fleet successfully demolished Georgian torpedo boats and missile boats inside Poti harbour. February–March 2014: During the Annexation of Crimea, combat swimmers of the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed at Sevastopol were activated and told to prepare for any planned operations, respond to any immediate naval threats from Ukrainian forces and to fully secure the peninsula from attacks. September 2015–November 2016: For a period during the early stages of the Russian military operation in Syria, PDSS combat swimmers of the naval infantry from various fleets of the navy were deployed as part of the contingent of Russian troops deployed in Syria. They participated in many combat missions alongside the Syrian Army.

In the 1945 World War Two film Counter Attack, Soviet divers are seen constructing an underwater bridge to be utilized for a major Soviet offensive against German forces.