For Russian special purpose forces in general see: spetsnaz

Spetsnaz

Spetsnaz, Specnaz tr: Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya; ) is an umbrella term for any special forces in Russian, literally "force of special purpose"...

The Dzerzhinsky Division is a internal security

Internal security

Internal security, or IS, is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories. generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats...

 division of the Internal Troops

Internal Troops

The Internal Troops, full name Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs ; alternatively translated as "Interior " is a paramilitary gendarmerie-like force in the now-defunct Soviet Union and its successor countries, particularly, in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan...

 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and then the Russian Federation.

USSR

OMSDON traces its roots to the OSNAZ detachment of the VChK

Cheka

Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...

 (formerly 1st Automobile Fighting Detachment of the VTsIK). It was created on 1 June 1924. It was later reorganized into the DON (Special-Purpose Division) of the OGPU and then NKVD of the USSR

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

.

Formed as a full army division shortly before the Soviet-Finnish War and named OMSDON (Independent Special-Purpose Motorized Rifle Division F. E. Dzerzhinsky), the division fought on the frontlines of World War II

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 against Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The OMSDON units protected the Allied leaders during the Yalta conference

Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...

.

In preparation for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, an elite group of OMSDON troops was trained with special forces tactics; the core of this group later became the Vytyaz

Vityaz (MVD)

Vityaz was a Russian Spetsnaz unit of the MVD, a unit in the Independent Operative Purpose Division of the Internal Troops.Vityaz was assigned specifically to counter-terrorism duties. Vityaz unit regularly conducts counter-terrorism patrols in Chechnya and along the Caucasus border...

 unit.

Russian Federation

In 1994, the OMSDON was renamed Independent Division of Operational Purpose or ODON. The full name of the unit is the Independent Orders of Lenin and October Revolution Red Banner Division of Operational Purpose of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia .

In 2008, Vityaz

Vityaz (MVD)

Vityaz was a Russian Spetsnaz unit of the MVD, a unit in the Independent Operative Purpose Division of the Internal Troops.Vityaz was assigned specifically to counter-terrorism duties. Vityaz unit regularly conducts counter-terrorism patrols in Chechnya and along the Caucasus border...

 and Rus

Rus (special forces)

Rus was a special forces unit of the Interior Troops , of the interior ministry of the Russian Federation. It was a unit in the Independent Operative Purpose Division .Rus was created on August 1, 1994...

 batallions were merged into 604th Red Banner Special Purpose Center.