Sturm, Actually I'm a neophyte in Russian (but google supplements my mediocre skills), have a moderate interest in Russian history and worked with a Russian recently and we both could have been trying to kill each other in the early 1980's if things had gone to pot, but fortunately they didn't and we got along well. Just having a little fun finding out about the patches.
1. 1st testing center, missile testing fire range Strategic Missile Force (ракетные войска стратегического назначения=raketnyye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya). Peaceful (мирный=mirnyy) OK, training center of the Strategic Missile Forces) and cosmodrome is in Mirny, Arkhangelsk region so no deliberate 'peaceful' pun here. Test site (испытательный полигон=ispytatel'nyy poligon) badge information page -
badge information page - Viewing Badge 1st testing center, missile testing fire range
2. 300 separate parachute regiment. (300 Independent Airborne Regiment, a guards regiment). Looking at the words, we have Svirskiy (Russian Saint from the fifteenth Century). OPDP is an abbreviation for technically Independant Parachute Descent Regiment (отдельный парашютно-десантный полк=otdel'nyy parashyutno-desantnyy polk) Googling OPDP in Russian I get
Нашивки 300 отдельного парашютно-десантного полка ( 300 опдп ). (Patches 300 Independent Airborne Regiment). and a tad more info at
300th Guards Parachute Regiment.
3. Special Forces (Войска Специального Назначениня=Voiska Specialnogo Naznachyeninya). All military Spetsnaz ... as opposed to Police etc, I think. GRU? Some are in GRU.
4. Russian Naval Infantry (Morskaya Pechoty as before) of the Black Sea Fleet (Черноморский флот=Chernomorskiy flot)
5. Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (Министерство внутренних дел, МВД,
Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del, MVD).
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia) - Wikipedia. On 5 April 2016 Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Internal Troops, OMON (the Special Purpose Mobility Unit), and SOBR (SWAT) forces to form the basis of the new National Guard of Russia, and these moved from MVD control and were reassigned to the Security Council of Russia. In turn and on the same day, the Federal Drug Control Service and the Federal Migration Service merged into the MVD and is now known as the Main Directorate for Drugs Control and the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs, respectively. So not as sexy nowadays!
Also updates to
- 3 in first list Vopku is really Volku (Wolf - the P and L in some fonts can look similar to babes in the woods like me) and the writing now reads "Wolf Scout/Intelligence" (still can't find a matching patch);
- 8 in second list - found it - 33 Submarine Division, Northern Fleet.
- 3 in the second list could be a Black Panther rather than a Leopard or a Tiger. Russian Baltic Fleet Naval Infantry PATCH PATCHES CHEVRON NAVY AIR FORCE AIRBORNE ARMY MILITARY MILITARIA FORCES | eBay use a black Panther head and swords, but it looks nothing like your patch. The Separate Operational Purpose Division or ODON, is a rapid deployment internal security division National Guard Forces Command of the Russian Federation and use a White Panther RUSSIAN ARMY MILITARY SLEEVE PATCH SPETSNAZ ODON DETACHED DIVISION BLACK PANTHER | eBay . Could a sub-unit use a Black Panther? And it may not even be a russian military patch.
How many more unidentified patches have you got?