Emulation with a Russian Twist: The Evolution of the Russian Special Operations Forces Command

Russia’s Special Operations Forces have over the past ten years been transformed and to undergoing continuous changes. This article traces the continual organizational reform of the Russian Special Operations Forces, as a peculiar combination of selective emulation of Western models and bottom-up adaptation. In particular, this article seeks examine the specific Russian emulations of western special forces practices, and in depth with how this mechanism process is functioning, thereby expanding the literature of military emulation with a non-western case.