Svechnykov was executed during the Great Purge in 1938, but practical implementation of his ideas was begun by Ilya Starinov, dubbed the "grandfather of the spetsnaz".

[4] The primary function of Spetsnaz troops in wartime was infiltration/insertion behind enemy lines (either in uniform or civilian clothing), usually well before hostilities are scheduled to begin and, once in place, to commit acts of sabotage such as the destruction of vital communications logistics centers, as well as the assassination of key government leaders and military officers.

[5] The first "independent reconnaissance companies of special purpose" were formed in 1949, to work for tank and combined-arms armies, which were tasked to eliminate amongst others enemy nuclear weapons systems such as the MGR-3 Little John and MGM-1 Matador.

The first brigades were formed in 1962, reportedly to reach up to 750 kilometres in the rear to destroy U.S. weapons systems such as the MGM-52 Lance, MGM-29 Sergeant, and MGM-31 Pershing.

The first major foreign operation of the unit came in August 1968, when Moscow decided to crack down on the Prague Spring and move the troops of Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia.

On the night of 21 August, a Soviet passenger plane requested an emergency landing at Prague Airport, allegedly due to engine failure.

At the same time, other Spetsnaz GRU units that had infiltrated into Prague a few days before the operation seized control of other key city points.

It is believed the special forces had participated in operations in more than nineteen countries around the world in Africa, Asia and South America.

In December 2014, the Ukrainian military claimed that the Spetsnaz GRU was involved in attacks on an airport[15] in Donetsk which was later captured by DPR in the battle.

In late 2015, GRU special forces operators were reportedly involved in the Syrian Civil War, appearing in the government offensives of Aleppo and Homs.

According to the estimate, one of the separate Spetsnaz brigades in question had only ″125 personnel active out of 900 deployed.″ The casualties were expected to have increased following the Ukrainian counteroffensive in September 2022 that liberated hundreds of square miles of territory in a few days, during this offensive, the GRU's Third Guards Spetsnaz Brigade, considered one of the most elite Russian units, was caught in the retreat and had to fight a defensive action in the town of Lyman.

[19][20][21] The high amount of losses suffered in Ukraine are expected to leave a strategic capability gap, since special forces unlike conventional units cannot be ″mass-produced″, the leaked Pentagon documents estimated that it would take Russia up to ten years to reconstitute its special operations capability, and this estimate referred to outdated 2022 figures.