Russian Spetsnaz Beret

Description

Spetsnaz (Russian: спецназ, abbreviation for Войска специа́льного назначе́ния; tr. Voyska spetsialnovo naznacheniya; [English: Special Operations Forces; or “Special Purpose Military Units”]) is an umbrella term for special forces in Russian and is used in numerous post-Soviet states.
Historically, the term referred to special operations units controlled by the main military intelligence service GRU (Spetsnaz GRU). It also describes task forces of other ministries (such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs ODON and Ministry of Emergency Situations’ special rescue unit) in post-Soviet countries. Russian special forces wear different berets depending on the branch of the armed forces they belong to.
These include:
    Airborne Forces (VDV) – Blue beret
    Ground Forces, Navy and Marines – Black beret
    National Guard – Maroon beret
As Spetsnaz is a Russian term, it is typically associated with the special units of Russia, but other post-Soviet states often refer to their special forces units by the term as well, since these nations also inherited their special purpose units from the now-defunct Soviet security agencies.
The Russian abbreviations spetsnaz and osnaz are syllabic abbreviations typical for Soviet era –  Russian: for spetsialnovo naznacheniya and osobovo naznacheniya, both of which may be interpreted as “special purpose”. As syllabic abbreviations, they are not acronyms and are not normally capitalized.
They are general terms that were used for a variety of Soviet special operations (spetsoperatsiya) units. In addition, many Cheka and Internal Troops units (such as OMSDON and ODON) also included osobovo naznacheniya in their full names. Regular forces assigned to special tasks were sometimes also referred to by terms such as spetsnaz and osnaz.