The sniper units have already been set up in the ground forces and now they are being manned. “We are establishing a phased, multi-tiered system for selecting and training candidates, to teach them how to work as part of a unit and independently. All snipers will have special training once every three or four years,” Vlasov said.

“Sniper units will be equipped with a number of different rifles with different characteristics,” he said.

They will also have special target acquisition equipment, including portable lasers, binoculars and devices for computing ballistics data.