77 special operations soldiers joined Belarus’ maroon beret brotherhood
The 63rd qualification tests among special operations soldiers for the right to wear a prestigious maroon beret completed in internal troops of Belarus’ Interior Ministry
The tests gathered 112 soldiers, but only 106 of them reached the second stage. The strong men had to pass a combined 15km forced march and an obstacle course, demonstrate their shooting skills using various types of weapons indoors and outdoors. As a result, 77 soldiers were through to the final stage, and all of them stood up in tough hand-to-hand sparring sessions against experienced maroon beret holders.
Among the newcomers of the maroon beret brotherhood are military personnel of various units and formations of the internal troops (including soldiers of Special Rapid Deployment Forces and the special forces units recently created in the capital and all regions), as well as eleven cadets of the Faculty of Internal Troops of the Military Academy, seven riot police officers from Minsk, Gomel, Brest, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Grodno, and an employee of the Department of Corrections of the Interior Ministry.
The First Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops, Chief of Staff Major General Aleksandr Bykov, the Chairman of the Council of the Belarusian Chest [Honour] Association of Veterans of Special Forces Units of the Interior Ministry, Reserve Colonel Dmitry Pavlichenko, the founder of the USSR maroon beret brotherhood, Hero of Russia, retired Colonel Sergei Lysyuk, the Chairman of the Maroon Beret Council, Colonel Vladimir Vashkevich, the Commander of the Special Forces Brigade of the Internal Troops, Colonel Dmitry Miksha, and maroon beret holders of different generations congratulated all those who had successfully passed the tests.
The internal troops veterans and the youth representing Belarus’ military-patriotic clubs attended the tests as observers.
