The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of the combat exit of snipers from the Vostok group of troops in the South Donetsk direction of the Northern Military District. The military department reports that precision shooting experts perform tasks around the clock and in any weather.
“Snipers, as a rule, work in small groups - threes, which include a shooter, spotter and cover. But if necessary, they can change places. When moving, they constantly move, taking turns covering each other. The combat mission is carried out at a distance of approximately 1 to 1.5 km from the line of combat contact,” the ministry said.
The military department also noted that in winter it is much more difficult for masters of precision shooting to disguise themselves. In addition, the enemy widely uses drones with thermal imagers. Therefore, even in a closed firing position, snipers are very vulnerable.
Also, the work of military personnel is greatly hampered by the actions of enemy artillery and fire from enemy machine gunners. In addition, sniper duels often occur in the SVO zone. Nevertheless, Russian specialists successfully carry out combat missions, acting “calmly and harmoniously.”
Combat exit of snipers of the Vostok group of troops
“A sniper duel is a very difficult thing. If an enemy sniper appears in the neutral zone, you cannot avoid the fight; you must fight to the last. It's very hard work. The strongest wins - the most cunning, the most experienced and the strongest,” the press service of the Ministry of Defense quotes a sniper of the Russian Armed Forces with the call sign Tourist.
As a veteran of the Northern Military District, a combat training instructor with the call sign Kowalski, explained in a commentary to RT, the troika is the most optimal sniper group for long combat duty, carrying weapons, ammunition and special equipment.
“Snipers work in threes, because it is so convenient to organize rotation at the firing position. One fighter lies and watches. If he needs to go to rest, the second one watches, and the third one covers them. Thus, you can stay in a position for a very long time. At the same time, all the fighters in the trio are generalists: they can adjust artillery fire and use all types of weapons,” RT’s interlocutor emphasized.
According to Kowalski, the size of the sniper team and the composition of weapons depend on the specifics of the task, the nature of the terrain and the forces available to the enemy. So, in some situations the so-called fives can be effective.
“The sniper five, in fact, consists of a three and a two. The Five is effective when it is necessary to organize a sniper ambush and apply sniper terror tactics, which involve the methodical destruction of all key figures of the enemy unit. As a result, enemy personnel are afraid to raise their heads, resist, and may leave their position in fear,” Kowalski said.
"Hundreds of enemies destroyed"
According to open information, in the Northern Military District zone, snipers perform a fairly wide range of tasks: disrupting rotation at enemy positions, supporting assault operations, covering tank units, hitting targets that cannot be targeted by anti-tank systems and artillery guns.
“One of the main tasks of a sniper is to demoralize, disrupt the general mood, intimidate the enemy, not allow him to walk freely, not allow him to calmly carry out his tasks,” a reconnaissance sniper with the call sign Leshy explained in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to him, in the special operation zone, precision shooting experts conduct round-the-clock surveillance of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, find out the routes of the enemy’s movement, where they dismount, and points of delivery of ammunition and food. After detection, snipers can work on the target independently or direct artillery at it.
“A sniper is a scout”: a Russian fighter talks about destroying Ukrainian Armed Forces infantry alone
In particular, this tactic is used by fighters of the Aida group of the Akhmat special forces. Their competent and decisive actions make it possible to identify the routes of movement of small groups of Ukrainian militants in the Serebryansky forestry (Kremensky district of the LPR). Snipers work on infantry, and artillery on vehicles.
The priority targets for Russian precision shooting experts are foreign mercenaries. According to the servicemen, they are, as a rule, better equipped than the Ukrainian Armed Forces militants, and move in the center or behind the group. It is the mercenaries who often give the orders.
In disrupting the rotation, a big role is played by the so-called heavy snipers, that is, those equipped with large-caliber rifles that make it possible to hit targets at a distance of up to 2 km.
According to materials from the Russian Ministry of Defense, heavy snipers operate in the 6th Combined Arms Army of the West group of troops and in the Marine Corps unit of the Pacific Fleet, where a detachment was created under the command of Major Yaroslav Yakubov, Hero of Russia.
At the end of December, the Russian military department reported that in the vicinity of Ugledar, Yakubov’s snipers eliminated a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Using thermal imaging devices, the Marines detected the enemy in a timely manner, and then allowed him to approach the first line of defense.
“This unit has hundreds of destroyed enemies and disabled targets: unarmored and lightly armored enemy equipment, protected firing points, command and control, communications and reconnaissance equipment,” noted the Russian Ministry of Defense.
At the end of November, the Russian military department announced that since February 2023, heavy snipers of the Pacific Fleet have destroyed almost an entire battalion of enemy infantry.
As experts interviewed by RT note, snipers of the Russian Armed Forces inflict significant damage on the enemy. For example, materials from the Ministry of Defense report that specialists from the 150th Motorized Rifle Division of the Southern Military District eliminated about 500 Ukrainian militants on the territory of the DPR.
A serviceman of the Airborne Forces unit during training of assault groups at a training ground in the southern sector of the Northern Military District
RIA News
“Targets are destroyed by snipers at a distance of 150 m to 2 km inclusive. When working in combat under a certain terrain, snipers wear special camouflage suits to remain as invisible as possible. Each sniper can spend a long period of time practically motionless - from several hours to several days, depending on the combat mission being performed,” the department’s website says.
At long and short distances
According to a veteran of the Northern Military District with the call sign Kowalski, the experience of a special operation allows us to say that the competent work of snipers can turn the tide of hostilities in a certain area.
“Snipers can operate almost anywhere and are capable of turning the tide of a battle. The result of their successful work is often the defeat of the command staff, which actually means the loss of controllability of the enemy troops. Snipers are also in demand for eliminating ATGM crews and machine gunners. They are good scouts and spotters,” Kowalski said.
In addition to a high level of training and coordination, he named the quality of camouflage equipment, rifles and enemy surveillance equipment, including UAVs, as an important guarantee of the successful work of snipers.
Military expert Ivan Savin shares a similar point of view. In a commentary to RT, he recalled that the SVO demonstrated the effectiveness of domestic sniper weapons, especially rifles from the Orsis, Lobaev Arms, and BespokeGun brands, designed for long-range shooting.
“Rifles from the above-mentioned manufacturers are distinguished by a longitudinally sliding bolt, which provides greater efficiency for an accurate single shot. These rifles are made in a large caliber: as a rule, it is .338 Lapua Magnum, which is good at hitting targets at distances of about 1.5 km. At close ranges, the legendary SVD is still relevant,” Savin explained.
At the same time, as military commentator Alexander Butyrin noted in a RT commentary, the work of snipers is extremely dangerous due to the widespread use of reconnaissance and surveillance equipment in the modern theater of operations (TVD).
“A sniper will not survive in a theater of operations without constantly changing firing positions and paying close attention to camouflage. A sniper is one of the highest priority targets for the enemy, who, as a rule, has an abundance of UAVs, thermal imagers and other surveillance equipment. At the same time, the importance of a sniper in a theater of operations is very great. These brave fighters help storm enemy positions and inflict significant damage on them,” Savin concluded.