MOSCOW, July 18 Rivalry between the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) ) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of Ukraine for special purpose units (SPN) led them to intense rivalry and, as a result, to a deterioration in coordination, says an article by the Intelligence Express Laboratory (LIEX).
LIEX was created with the aim of analyzing and systematizing open information related to the activities of intelligence services around the world, summarizing experience, problems, strengths and weaknesses, miscalculations at different historical stages. Abroad, this area of research is called Intelligence studies.
The formation of the Ukrainian military intelligence structure began immediately after the country gained independence in 1991. Its basis was the impressive forces and intelligence assets of the Kyiv, Odessa and Carpathian military districts of the USSR, the Air Force and Air Defense armies, as well as the intelligence units of central subordination that found themselves on the territory of the new country.
“Competition for combat units led to complex relations between the main command and control department and the new special forces. It was noted that coordination between them had deteriorated greatly; the amount of incoming information from the main command and control center was significantly reduced, and the time it took to obtain this information for the new command and control increased,” the article notes.
After 2004, the Ukrainian authorities declared their strategic goal to join the NATO bloc. One of the consequences of this was the decision to form foreign-style Special Operations Forces (SSO) within the Ministry of Defense. In conditions of extreme weakness of the army and a lack of funding, they began to be created on the basis of existing units. Since 2008, the 3rd and 8th separate regiments of the Special Forces came under operational subordination to the newly formed Directorate of Special Operations of the Ministry of Defense.
«The leadership of the GUR resisted such a decision until the last, and for several more years the administrative and economic support of these units remained in the hands of the GUR. In the battles of 2014-2015, special forces regiments took part in such a mixed subordination. Finally «snatched» from the Main Command The intelligence department succeeded in power formations only in 2016, leaving only the small 10th separate special forces detachment in its composition,” notes the LIEX publication.