Its official name is “Military Unit 75127,” but it is known to Russian intelligence agencies as “Center 795.” The Russian government reportedly created the unit in December 2022—less than a year after the Kremlin’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
By mid-2023, Center 795 was “fully staffed,” with its approximately 500 officers drawn primarily from the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (known as the GU or GRU).
Other officers in “Center 795” came from ALPHA and VYMPEL—covert operations units belonging to the FSB. A smaller number of officers came from the Russian Armed Forces, the Federal Protection Service, and the ALPHA Group of the Belarusian security service, known as the KGB.
The structure of Center 795 includes three directorates: Intelligence, Combat Support, and Offensive Operations. The Intelligence Directorate consists of nine distinct divisions whose missions include, among other things, collecting and analyzing information from social media platforms, conducting reconnaissance using satellite networks and drones, conducting signals intelligence, and conducting human intelligence and covert operations, including assassinations and kidnappings.
The Combat Support Directorate has divisions for explosives, air defense, armor, and artillery. It also maintains combat units that perform technical maintenance, logistical support, fortification, and other specialized tasks. The Offensive Operations Directorate consists of four divisions, which appear to carry out strictly compartmentalized functions that include air missions.
Notably, unlike other special operations units in Russia’s intelligence arsenal, Center 795 does not appear to be based within the GRU. Instead, it appears to operate independently and report directly to General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Minister of Defense, or to one of his subordinate deputy defense ministers.
According to reports, the existence of Center 795 was revealed when one of its officers, Denis Alimov, used Google to translate a message sent to him by a Serbian agent living in the United States.
This allowed the FBI to use a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant and access the Google Translate transcripts. Alimov was eventually arrested in Bogota, Colombia on February 24, 2026, after arriving there on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, Turkey. He is currently awaiting extradition to New York.
