GU

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Group.png Main Intelligence Directorate - GU  
(Intelligence agencyWebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
GRU.jpg
Predecessor• Main Intelligence Directorate
• Fifth Department of the Russian Imperial Chief of Staff
Parent organizationRussia
HeadquartersGrizodubovoy str. 3, Moscow
LeaderGU/Director
Subgroups• Svyazinformsoyuz Company
• Directorate for Space Intelligence
Founder ofWagner Group
SubpageGU/Director

The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, abbreviated G.U.[1], formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU, is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (formerly the USSR′s General Staff).[2]

Leadership

Unlike Russia′s other security and intelligence agencies, such as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO), whose heads report directly to the President Putin, the GRU's director is subordinate to the Russian military command, i.e. the Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff. Until 2010, the GRU combined a military intelligence service and special forces.[3]

Activities

The GRU is reputedly Russia's largest foreign intelligence agency. According to unverified statements by GRU defector Stanislav Lunev, 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 commanded 25,000 Spetsnaz troops in 1997.[4]

OPCW Hack Attempt?

On 4 October 2018, Dutch military intelligence service (MIVD) Director Onno Eichelsheim asserted that his service interrupted a GRU attempt to hack the WiFi network of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. The OPCW has been probing the chemical attack on Sergei Skripal, a Russian ex-spy in Salisbury (UK), as well as the alleged chemical attacks in Syria.

MIVD has published details about the four GRU operatives who arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 10 April 2018: Alexei Moronets, Evgeni Serebriakov, Oleg Sotnikov and Alexei Minin, all of whom had travelled on diplomatic passports and were caught observing the OPCW headquarters. A laptop seized from the GRU suspects had been used in Brazil, Switzerland and Malaysia.[5]

Integrity Initiative Hack?

Full article: Integrity Initiative/Leak

In March 2019, Sky News stated that (unnamed) "Whitehall sources said it is highly likely that Russia's military intelligence service carried out the hack-and-leak of files from the little-known Institute for Statecraft".[6]

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Employee on Wikispooks

EmployeeJobAppointedEndDescription
Igor KorobovGU/Director201621 November 2018Died in office
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References