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When I first spoke with Vladimir
Vasiliev, his calm, relaxed demeanor struck me. Friendly and engaging, his
pleasant and outgoing manner stands in sharp contrast to the highly
trained Russian special forces (Spetsnaz) combat and military expert that
he is.
Emigrating from Tver (a city close to Moscow) some five years
ago, he met his wife Valerie in Toronto, Canada, where they live and run
the only Russian Martial Art school in North America. His better half,
Valerie, helps Vladimir with his writings by translating them into
English, as well as by assisting in the myriad of other tasks that come
with running a world-class martial arts studio full time, publishing
training manuals, and producing professional-quality training videos.
Valerie moved to Toronto some 16 years ago from Leningrad (now St.
Petersburg), and she has honed her English-speaking skills to assist in
communicating the Russian Martial Art system more completely.
Vladimir
sent me his first tape, Russian Martial Art Knife Defense, and I was
fascinated by the rare archival footage of Spetsnaz training. With
enchanting Russian music and singing in the background, the announcer
states: "The rare documentary footage that you are seeing in this film,
was classified for many decades. And now, for the first time, you can get
an idea of how unique the training and the skills have been for the
Special Groups in Spetsnaz". The video shows various shots of troops in
action; rolling on the ground, climbing over obstacles, and in
hand-to-hand, hand-to-knife, and hand-to-rifle combat training using
Russian Martial Art skills.
Before going into the video in more detail,
we need to set the stage by delving into the art itself --- where did it
come from, how old is it, and how superior is it to Sambo, the more
commonly known Russian system of personal combat? To do so, I will draw
extensively from interviews and on written information provided by
Vladimir. But first let's look at Vladimir's qualifications:
"Studied
at the Moscow Military Institute
"Ten years of training with the
Russian special forces (Spetsnaz)
"Expert in Russian system of combat
and all levels of close protection disciplines
"Real and extensive
recent military experience
"A former trainer of the elite Russian
special forces and selected units of bodyguards and law enforcement
officers.
So we see that the man has extensive, high-level
training, and is eminently qualified to teach Russian Martial Art. The art
itself has "no stances, no kata (forms), no uniforms, no formalities,
rituals or belts. The training consists of the real thing. Any student
right away begins to learn how to defend against a knife stab to his
stomach, or a punch to his head, or a painful choke. The techniques are
simple and deadly, practical and effective, based on a few unique and
powerful principles."
Vladimir goes on to explain in more detail: "This
is known as The System --- a Russian Martial Art that goes back over a
thousand years, but has been kept under wraps throughout the communist era
and taught only to some units of the special forces. So how did this style
originate? Every nation from the five continents has its own martial
traditions. They were formed for centuries under the influence of many
factors: geographic location and climates, religion, culture and customs,
the people's mentality and physical body structure, and historic
events.
"As for Russia, a tremendous variety of geographic and climatic
conditions exist throughout this huge country. The religion and culture
have been remarkably rich and diverse. The people have always been strong
physically and brave, seeking freedom rather than definite structure.
Historically, a rare year would pass by with the Russians not involved in
battles. The invaders came from the north, south, east, and west. They
attacked with their distinct styles of combat, unique weaponry, and
different mentality. The battles happened on different terrains, during
freezing winters and sweltering summers alike, with the Russians often
greatly outnumbered by their enemies."
As a result of this, the
Russians, ever an intelligent and creative people, developed a style that
combined the strong Russian spirit with creative and versatile tactics
into a synergistic combat system. This system was both practical and
deadly, designed to work against any type of enemy under any
circumstances. It did all this while remaining natural and free in style
--- a pretty tall order and very intriguing overall
concept.
Interestingly, like the Swiss, the Russian people chose not to
support professional warriors full time, so the people themselves trained
regularly, then returned to their shops and fields when the battles were
over. Citizen-soldiers, just like the system adopted by our Founding
Fathers. (Contrary to the liars in the socialist media, and the lies that
Bill Clinton pathologically repeats, the Second Amendment is not now nor
has it ever been about duck hunting. It's about honest government,
upholding the rule or law, and preparing to defend home and country
against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our Founders explicitly and
specifically endorsed and promoted the concept of citizen soldiers, and
wanted every American to be trained in the various arts of war, to include
forms of personal combat training such as found in Vladimir's
courses.)
To stay in a state of combat readiness, the Russians prepared
their warriors through martial games, sparring matches, and other types of
confrontations, which were held on a regular basis during holidays and
fairs. Stick fights, knife fights, fist fights, and wrestling matches were
held between individuals and groups with up to 10,000 participants in St.
Petersburg, in one example that Vladimir cites. What a street
fight!
"Boys often started their training at the age of 2. First,
using toy weapons and by the age of 4, learning to ride a horse. At 10, a
boy was expected to master the main tactics of using wooden weapons and at
12, to master unarmed techniques. At 18, the young men were strictly
tested for all those skills as well as swimming and breathing under water
through a hollow cane. They had to know about ambushes, and pass a
survival test - when left alone far from any shelter, with no food or
weapons."
As a result of this start-at-early-childhood, life-long
training, "the Russian fighters were very highly rated throughout history.
Many rulers of the world such as the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Avars tried
to employ them. The Russians were known to be courageous, devoted and very
well-prepared physically."
As aggressive as this training is from
childhood on up, Vladimir does not believe in nor promote aggressive
behavior:
"What is aggression? From the point of view of psychotherapy,
it is a stable neurosis - a persistent need to put down or hurt somebody.
Underlying this need, there is a fear of the aggressor's humiliation. The
Russian system tries to free the student of fear of becoming a victim and
protects from the even greater terror of becoming an aggressor."
In
other words, it is the fear of humiliation that turns one into a psychotic
bully. And the cure for that is a positive, self-assured, faith-based
mentality, rather than a fear-based, harshly brash approach.
The system
that Vladimir teaches is actually a rebirth of great martial skills and
traditions, as they were almost lost under the communist regime following
the Revolution of 1917. Everything traditionally Russian was discouraged
by the authorities, and those promoting the old culture could be severely
punished. The authentic fighting style was reserved for the elite units of
the special forces, and the common masses were given a substitute to
distract them, a martial art form based on Oriental styles - we know it as
Sambo. The old Russian system continued to live in the secret academies
and among certain people who quietly maintained their training and passed
it on through familial generations.
Finally, the Russian system does
not teach fixed stances and threatening poses, as it is believed that
these tend to work counter to the principle of instant readiness for a
fight and disrupt the continuity of movement.
Vladimir: "The techniques
are based on the natural movements of a person, his reactions to
unpredictable circumstances. Most of these reactions come from the inborn
defensive instincts. In a street fight no two situations are ever the
same, thus it is impossible to prepare you and memorize all variations of
techniques. This way, it is a lot more practical and effective to become
consciously aware of your natural moves. To understand them, and use them
as a basis for further work and to 'teach your body to think.' The
students do not prearrange how they will strike and do not repeat the same
attacks and soon it becomes unimportant for them what kind of attack to
defend from."
PROFICIENCY
So how long does it take to
become proficient in this style? Vladimir says in just 3-4 months of
training, the diligent student becomes ready for self-defense. But the
training goes beyond the physical work alone: psychological preparation,
knowledge of nature, and animal-attack defense, bodyguarding tactics and
body language, perception of psychic attacks, and working with bioenergy,
as well as obtaining new philosophical views and using the Russian system
of health and rejuvenation. It is an all-encompassing view and expression
of life.
The Knife Defense video is technically excellent. The pictures
are sharp and clear, and Vladimir is careful to explain each nuance of
movement in defending against a knife attack. In the sequence on "Overhead
Strikes" for example, a burly attacker is shown coming at Vladimir with
his knife coming down from above his head in an "ice pick" stabbing
motion. Vladimir deftly grasps the striking hand and with an intriguing
twist removes the knife, while at the same time putting his attacker off
balance and into a takedown. He then places the knife in his own right
hand, and "stabs" the still-falling opponent in the throat. When he is on
the ground, Vladimir "finishes him off" with another thrust. It is all one
smooth movement, shown at full speed, then broken down step-by-step,
revealing all details. Vladimir is a competent and very thorough
instructor. The style uses a lot of twisting and leveraging maneuvers, and
the strikes use fingers, wrists, elbows, feet and knees as well as
thrusting, pushing, swinging and whipping techniques. It is utterly
fascinating to watch in action.
The video also contains rare footage
showing incredible work by the best masters of Russian Combat in the
world. There is one sequence in which two men dressed in business suits
throw off multiple attackers without physically touching them. Vladimir
says they are using psychic energy - it has to be seen to be
believed!
This video features more than 40 tactics, all fully
explained, and was ranked by the European Knife Fighting Association as
the Best Film Of The Year. If you master the system, it is designed to
make you rough-and-tough-and-hard-to-bluff, and make you semper paratus,
ready for anything, when attacked by a knife or military shovel-wielding
opponent. The Russian Spetsnaz has a fearsome reputation and this video
shows why.
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