KASOTC 6TH Annual Warrior Competition – Russia’s “Lynx”

Among the many teams at the 6TH Annual International Warrior Competition at KASOTC this year were competitors from Russia's Rys unit (Lynx). Lynx is a police unit (albeit from what we in the US would call a paramilitary police organization). More specifically it is a Special Rapid Response Unit of Russia's Ministry of the Interior. The acronym is SOBR (Spetsial'nye Otryady Bystrogo Reagirovaniya). Among their responsibilities are high risk operations involving organized crime, counter-terror missions, fugitive apprehension and similar activities. There were likely Lynx personnel at the Olympics in Sochi, and they were reportedly involved in CT operations in Dagestan, the Caucasus and other places during security preparations for the Olympics. I have no idea if they are involved with or are anywhere near Ukraine, but it stands to reason they are at least peripherally involved. While they are considered spetsnaz in the colloquial sense they are not, strictly speaking, the military spetsnaz most people think of when they hear the word.

Neither Q or I got the chance to talk too much with the Russians while we were there (and they weren't terribly chatty anyway) but they did perform well in the various events. Here's a look at them.

This video is military related but it's an interesting watch if you have a few minutes. We're not the only one that can put together cool recruiting tools.