A recent video from retired Special Operations veteran Larry Vickers highlights three of the most strenuous counter-terrorism drills that Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) operators have to go through in the course of their training.
They provide a look at how some of Vladimir Putin's most elite soldiers are made - a potentially important insight, considering how the situation in Ukraine has heated up in the days after Russian-backed separatists shot down a Malaysia Airlines flight.
The FSB is the main security agency of the Russian Federation, and the successor to the Soviet KGB. The FSB's main roles within Russia include counter-intelligence, internal security, and counter-terrorism.
This agency is alleged to be playing a large role in eastern Ukraine, and the premier of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic was previously a major-general in the FSB.
The training that the FSB conducts in the video features live rounds of ammunition - making the exercises extremely dangerous and potentially fatal.
We have highlighted some of the most intense aspects of the FSB's training regimen in the GIFs below.
The first exercise is a close range confidence drill during which a trainee, wearing body armor, is shot multiple times from three to four yards away.
The trainee, after being shot, returns fire at a target right next to the "bad guy's" head to simulate a head shot.
The second drill involves the trainee firing at select targets a set number of times when faced with external stressors.
Like being pushed while firing ...
... And having a second shooter unload a clip right next to the trainee's head. In this exercise, the trainee is judged on speed and precision.
The third exercise is identical to the second exercise, but includes human obstacles mingled amongst the targets.
Again, the trainee is subjected to outside stressors while being judged on precision and speed.
Watch the full video below.