In 2013 Russia’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov jointly announced the creation of a Special Operations Forces. Already back in 2008, during the tenure of Shoygu’s predecessor Anatoliy Serdyukov, it had been decided to establish an SOF under the Special Operations Forces Command of the General Staff with its HQ on the outskirts of Moscow.
