A disclaimer of bias first: the book - at length - mentions the OMSBON (Separate Motorized Rifle Bridage of Special Designation or, in Katamidze's translation: Special Purpose Motorized Brigade), a military alma mater of my own ('87-'89, Leningrad), although in the late 80s, in my experience Leningrad OMSBON was a total joke. But I certainly enjoyed reading about the elite history of a unit that - in my own late-80s experience - was anything but...
The book is clearly organized and spans from the early post-revolutionary days to the very last days of the Soviet empire. The book offers a wealth of photographic material and intriguing vignettes. Whereas the title entices with the coverage of the "ruthless killers" (the sublimated card-carrying socipaths), the bulk of the coverage is, however, more so on the "cunning spies," which - to a NKVD/KGB/FSB buff would be, perhaps, all too familiar.
The book offers a particularly nice coverage of Vympel unit's demonstrative seizure of Arzamas-16 nuclear warheads storage facility - as part of highlighting the inherent liabilities of the dissolution of the USSR and the risks of inadvertant nuclear proliferation.
Katamidze does a good job of covering the Afganistan invasion prep work performed by the Soviet specials ops (the anti-terrorist Alpha unit, the Zenith group, with the support of a volunteer Muslim Battalion of the Soviet Army). These forces, reports Katamidze, "took the presidential palace of Taj-Bek in 43 minutes" (p. 198).
Katamidze - in my opinion - does a nice job of covering the history of OMSBON (in his translation: Special Purpose Motorized Brigade), describing this initially rag-tag "shadow army" of "crack shots, martial artists, boxers, archers" and "about 10,000 of the best Soviet athletes," along with foreigners (Spaniards, Germans, Poles, Chinese, Bulgarians, and others), recruited for diversionary tactics (p. 99).
While the book does seem to have a bit of a political slant (which in and of itself is intriguing given its date of publication), it well satisfies its mandate and offers a good deal of gory detail. With the exception of the most pedantic Soviet history buff, a general reader is likely to much enjoy this production. I can't wait for a second edition - if there is going to be one - that would offer a much needed post-Soviet update.
Thank you, Slava!
Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
Author of "Eating the Moment: 141 Mindful Practices to Overcome Overeating One Meal at a Time" (New Harbinger, Nov. 2008)
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