Did the fallout universe have the Spetnaz, or something like it? Russian Secret Service?

I would imagine so. I mean, I'm pretty sure I read something to that effect somewhere, but I'm not positive.
You know, I always was kind of perplexed why China was the big bad in the Fallout universe, and not the Soviet Union. It being based off the 50's, and the Red Scare, and all.
Ah well.

Well... History as we know it has more or less proven the FO creators right on this point. In 70 years I suspect that China will still be communist (of a sorts) and way more powerfull than the russians.

Spetsnaz ? Man, this game doesn't even bother to mention the russians (not even barely), which is sad. They were packing some serious hardware back there.

Actually, the Soviet Union is mentioned in Fallout 1 and 3.

beat me to it

Being that Spetsnaz is actually a word to describe special purpose forces, it is certain that the USSR had some form of established special forces. Now were they as elaborate as the Soviet Union of our world, is obviously up for some debate. My one major observation in regards to this though, would be that it is unlikely that Western Intelligence agencies would have had the degree of intelligence and understanding on the Spetsnaz as they do in our timeline, due to the fact that it is doubtful that Victor Suvorov(Vladimir Bogdanovich) would have defected(which was a massive intelligence coup for Western intelligence agencies).

For those that are interested in the subject of Spetsnaz, it's basically required reading to pick up:

# Spetsnaz, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8

Victor Suvorov's insight as well as detail are extensive, and he gives great insight into the inner workings of Soviet Special Forces.

Ok, but just barely
A country with size or power of Russia should be definetly mentioned a bit more in this universe....unless they've fecked up and managed to get steam rolled by China into some little republic.

Nooo, motherlaaaaaaaand. :C *grabbyhands*

I joke, I joke. ^^

....


Mostly. >.>

Probably the USSR adopted a more defensive policy with the introduction Perestroika and Glasnost. With that being said though, if troops of the PLA tried to take Soviet soil, Beijing would be a smoking nuclear crater.

I have always been under the assumption that in the Fallout Universe, somehow Russia decayed later on and China was the next supernation.

In a game developer perspective, I see that they went one of two ways. The first was that they were afraid of sales due to controversy that could have been caused by it. The second is that maybe Black Isle saw how China has been growing, and used it due to their outlook. Plus, the whole war thing with fallout still works perfectly with China due to the fact that they were (are) communists. However, there might be another reason to it that I just don't know.

Regarding to the original post, I would assume that something among the lines of Spetznaz would have been founded by Soviet Russia in the Fallout universe.
:fallout:

Being that Spetsnaz is actually a word to describe special purpose forces, it is certain that the USSR had some form of established special forces. Now were they as elaborate as the Soviet Union of our world, is obviously up for some debate. My one major observation in regards to this though, would be that it is unlikely that Western Intelligence agencies would have had the degree of intelligence and understanding on the Spetsnaz as they do in our timeline, due to the fact that it is doubtful that Victor Suvorov(Vladimir Bogdanovich) would have defected(which was a massive intelligence coup for Western intelligence agencies).

For those that are interested in the subject of Spetsnaz, it's basically required reading to pick up:

# Spetsnaz, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8

Victor Suvorov's insight as well as detail are extensive, and he gives great insight into the inner workings of Soviet Special Forces.

I would suppose so :shrug: the same history applies (before the 1950's) and spetsnaz has been around a while so... yeah

This.

You just DON'T [censored] with The Bear. Even if you do have 1.5 billion people, out of which at least 1% can be trained to become a professional soldier. Speaking of which, you'd still need hoards of resources to equip, feed and house those 15+ million troops.

It is based on 50's American culture, not 50s geo-political history. Remember this takes place in 2277, the war itself in 2077, which is well into our own future. Its very easy to visualize a world 70 years from now in which China (who are already a rising global power as a nation) would have achieved super-power status by 2077. Its very easy to envision the US and China coming to blows being the two major super-powers in the world at that time.

So to me, even without the 50s cultural angle (which is Great BTW), I think this version is history is not only plausable, but actually many modern day military folks in our government worry about this very scenario and plan contingencies for it even today. War with China and America would result in far more lost-lives and destruction than war between USSR and America in my view, its just alot harder to visualize because we have so much history of "warring" with the Russians.

To be honest, I like many Americans (I'm assuming) are tired of pretending and war-gaming against the Russians. We've done it for what, 40+ years now? I would rather let the cold war fade to memory and focus on what is more realistic - at least to me.

Miax

Dukov is the only russian I think in Fallout 3 and he is quite suspicious.

Didn't you know, the Chinese in the FO universe annexed Russia just like the U.S. annexed Canada in the Resource Wars. So whatever Russians the Chinese didn't commit political genocide on became their conscript troopers or plead amnesty in the U.S. or crawled in after the nuclear war, i.e. Dukov.

There was actually never any mention of PRC Annexation of the USSR.

I remember starting a topic about the soviet union. It should be here somewhere.

or the original devs wanted to have a new enemy instead of the usual "evil" germans/russians/arabs.

Maybe the Spetznaz are so good that we don't even realize they're operating in our midsts. I mean, did anyone ever REALLY check Dogmeat's passport and question him fully?

I lol'd.

If Spetsnaz were deployed, it was most likely that they were tasked with destroying European Commonwealth Nuclear and Communications assets in West Germany.

The EC had long ceased to be by then.

This is how it is assumed that Spetsnaz would operate in the Fallout Universe:

Taken from "Victor Suvorov's Book: Spetsnaz, 1987, Hamish Hamilton Ltd, ISBN 0-241-11961-8


In every Soviet embassy there are two secret organisations ? the KGB rezidentura and the GRU rezidentura. The embassy and the KGB rezidentura are guarded by officers of the KGB frontier troops, but in cases where the GRU rezidentura has a complement of more than ten officers, it has its own internal spetsnaz guard. Before the outbreak of a war, in some cases several months previously, the number of spetsnaz officers in a Soviet embassy may be substantially increased, to the point where practically all the auxiliary personnel in the embassy, performing the duties of guards, cleaners, radio-operators, cooks and mechanics, will be spetsnaz athletes. With them, as their 'wives', women athletes from spetsnaz may turn up in the embassy. Similar changes of staff may take place in the many other Soviet bodies ? the consulate, the commercial representation, the offices of Aeroflot, Intourist, TASS, Novosti and so forth.

The advantages of this arrangement are obvious, but it is not without its dangers. The principal danger lies in the fact that these new terrorist groups are based right in the centre of the country's capital city, uncomfortably close to government offices and surveillance. But within days, possibly within hours, before the outbreak of war they can, with care, make contact with the spetsnaz agent network and start a real war in the very centre of the city, using hiding places already prepared.

Part of their support will come from other spetsnaz groups which have recently arrived in the country in the guise of tourists, teams of sportsmen and various delegations. And at the very last moment large groups of fighting men may suddenly appear out of Aeroflot planes, ships in port, trains and Soviet long-distance road transport ('Sovtransavto'). Simultaneously there may be a secret landing of spetsnaz troops from Soviet submarines and surface vessels, both naval and merchant. (Small fishing vessels make an excellent means of transport for spetsnaz. They naturally spend long periods in the coastal waters of foreign states and do not arouse suspicion, so spetsnaz groups can spend a long time aboard and can easily return home if they do not get an order to make a landing). At the critical moment, on receipt of a signal, they can make a landing on the coast using aqualungs and small boats. Spetsnaz groups arriving by Aeroflot can adopt much the same tactics. In a period of tension, a system of regular watches may be introduced. This means that among the passengers on every plane there will be a group of commandos. Having arrived at their intended airport and not having been given a signal, they can remain aboard the aircraft (An aircraft is considered to be part of the territory of the country to which it belongs, and the pilot's cabin and the interior of the plane are not subject to foreign supervision.) and go back on the next flight. Next day another group will make the trip, and so on. One day the signal will come, and the group will leave the plane and start fighting right in the country's main airport. Their main task is to capture the airport for the benefit of a fresh wave of spetsnaz troops or airborne units (VDV).

It is a well-known fact that the 'liberation' of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 began with the arrival at Prague airport of Soviet military transport planes with VDV troops on board. The airborne troops did not need parachutes; the planes simply landed at the airport. Before the troops disembarked there was a moment when both the aircraft and their passengers were completely defenceless. Was the Soviet high command not taking a risk? No, because the fact is that by the time the planes landed, Prague airport had already been largely paralysed by a group of 'tourists' who had arrived earlier.

Spetsnaz groups may turn up in the territory of an enemy from the territory of neutral states. Before the outbreak of war or during a war spetsnaz groups may penetrate secretly into the territory of neutral states and wait there for an agreed signal or until a previously agreed time. One of the advantages of this is that the enemy does not watch over his frontiers with neutral countries as carefully as he does over his frontiers with Communist countries. The arrival of a spetsnaz group from a neutral state may pass unnoticed both by the enemy and the neutral state.

But what happens if the group is discovered on neutral territory? The answer is simple: the group will go into action in the same way as in enemy territory ? avoid being followed, kill any witnesses, use force and cunning to halt any pursuers. They will make every effort to ensure that nobody from the group gets into the hands of their pursuers and not to leave any evidence about to show that the group belongs to the armed forces of the USSR. If the group should be captured by the authorities of the neutral state, Soviet diplomacy has enormous experience and some well-tried counter-moves. It may admit its mistake, make an official apology and offer compensation for any damage caused; it may declare that the group lost its way and thought it was already in enemy territory; or it may accuse the neutral state of having deliberately seized a group of members of the Soviet armed forces on Soviet territory for provocative purposes, and demand explanations, apologies and compensation, accompanied by open threats.

Experience has shown that this last plan is the most reliable. The reader should not dismiss it lightly. Soviet official publications wrote at the beginning of December 1939 that war was being waged against Finland in order to establish a Communist regime there, and a Communist government of 'people's Finland' had already been formed. Thirty years later Soviet marshals were writing that it was not at all like that: the Soviet Union was simply acting in self-defence. The war against Finland, which was waged from the first to the last day on Finnish territory, is now described as 'repelling Finnish aggression' (Marshal K. A. Meretskov, Na Sluzhbe na rodu (In the Service of the People), 1968.) and even as 'fulfilling the plan for protecting our frontiers.' (Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky, Delo Vselgesnle (A Life's Work), 1968.)

The Soviet Union is always innocent: it only repels perfidious aggressors. On other people's territory.