Russia has established an ultra-secret intelligence unit known as "Center 795," dedicated to kidnappings and assassinations abroad. The structure was finalized following the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to an investigation by The Insider.

The unit’s secrecy began to unravel on the evening of February 23, when 42-year-old Russian officer Denis Alimov traveled from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to Colombia via Istanbul. Instead of the oceanfront hotel he had booked in Cartagena, he was met with handcuffs by Colombian migration authorities acting on an Interpol red notice.

Alimov is an officer of Center 795, the most classified paramilitary unit in Russia, whose existence is being reported for the first time. His downfall was remarkably mundane: during correspondence with a recruited agent, he used Google Translate. Because the service's servers fall under U.S. judicial jurisdiction, the FBI was able to monitor the entire operation.

A Parallel Structure for State-Sponsered Killings

Since the invasion of Ukraine began, the Kremlin has drastically increased overseas operations, including sabotage at defense plants, the hunting of exiled journalists, and the elimination of dissidents. The infamous GRU Unit 29155, commanded by General Averyanov, had become too "exposed" by investigative journalists. To counter this vulnerability, Putin followed his signature style: creating a competing, parallel structure with stricter vetting and entirely different funding.

Center 795 (Military Unit 75127) was officially formed in December 2022. It reports directly to Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov or the Deputy Defense Minister, technically placing it outside the standard GRU chain of command, even though many of its officers are military intelligence veterans.

Corporate Cover and Oligarch Funding

The unit’s operational base is located within the "Patriot" park in Kubinka, utilizing the administrative complex of the Kalashnikov Concern, part of Sergey Chemezov’s Rostec. Funding is reportedly channeled through oligarch Andrei Bokarev, a co-owner of Kalashnikov. Sources told Hvylya that Bokarev uses state contracts to "kick back" funds for these special operations, a scheme similar to how the Wagner Group was previously financed.

The center is headed by Denis Fisenko, a former "Alpha" officer from the FSB and a champion marksman. Unusually, the core of the unit consists of elite FSB veterans from the "Alpha" and "Vympel" groups rather than traditional GRU officers. This merger of FSB and Ministry of Defense personnel was intended to enhance operational security, though skeptics within the GRU questioned whether 500 people could effectively master such a broad range of intelligence specialties.

An "Army Within an Army"

Center 795 consists of approximately 500 officers divided into three directorates:

  • Intelligence Directorate: Includes nine departments covering everything from social media monitoring (OSINT) and satellite imagery to human intelligence (HUMINT) and signal interception. A dedicated sniper department within this directorate suggests a focus on targeted liquidations rather than battlefield support.
  • Assault Directorate: Comprised of four combat departments, each containing four autonomous strike groups that operate in total isolation from one another to prevent a compromised cell from exposing the entire unit.
  • Combat Support Directorate: Equipped with T-90A tanks and Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems, providing a heavy military capability rarely seen in clandestine hit squads.

Salaries reflect the high stakes, with Fisenko reportedly receiving 3 million rubles monthly from Kalashnikov alone, on top of his Ministry of Defense pay.

The Google Failure: FBI Surveillance

Denis Alimov’s specific mission involved targeting relatives of Akhmed Zakayev, a prominent Chechen figure living in exile in the UK. Alimov recruited Darko Durovic, a Serbian national living in the U.S., for the task. In October 2024, Alimov met Durovic in a Moscow restaurant to hand over a $60,000 down payment. The bounty for "deporting" targets was set at $1.5 million each, with one specific target worth over $10 million "dead or alive."

Because Alimov spoke only Russian and Durovic spoke Serbo-Croatian, they relied on Google Translate for operational communication. While they believed their messages were protected by end-to-end encryption in apps, the text processed by Google was accessible via U.S. court orders. The FBI monitored their plans, surveillance reports, and searches for Glock pistols in real time.

Following his arrest in Bogota, Alimov faces charges including conspiracy to kidnap, murder for hire, and financing terrorism—charges that carry potential life sentences. The exposure of Center 795 represents a significant blow to Moscow’s revamped infrastructure for overseas liquidations, proving that even the most elite units remain vulnerable to basic technological lapses.