The development of sambo was an attempt to create a native fighting
system for the new nation. Although it did not supplant the native styles
from which it emerged, sambo did provide a unified system of grappling
that enabled all citizens of the USSR to have a common ground on which
to compete. In addition, military sambo and self-defense techniques gave
the military and police forces a tool that they could use in their respective
professions.
The creators of sambo were successful in creating an effective martial
art that was able to cut across the ethnic barriers that affected all levels of
Soviet life. Today, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and emergence
of the Russian Federation, sambo is recognized as a Russian art that was
developed during Soviet times.
Russians have a long and distinguished wrestling tradition, and
sambo is an outgrowth of this dedication. Its development was a way for
Soviet authorities to have both a true “native” sport as well as an effective
means of self-defense. Sambo was promoted during the Soviet period as the
“official” self-defense art of the USSR, and for a time was the only martial
art that could be practiced legally, with the exception of jûdô. This sup-
pression was due to the paranoid fears of the Soviet government that Asian
martial arts would expose Soviet citizens to Asian religions and philoso-
phies in an officially atheist state. In addition, there was concern that the
youth of the nation would study unsupervised unarmed combat and be-
come a menace to the society. Although jûdô was considered a non-Soviet
martial art, its practice was allowed because jûdô was an Olympic event
and the Soviet government was hungry for medals. With the fall of the
USSR, martial arts of all styles were once again allowed into the Russian
Federation. At the present time, martial arts of all styles are freely practiced
in the Federation and the now independent former republics, but sambo
still is very popular and continues to be practiced in all areas of these na-
tions. Although jûdô was considered a non-Soviet martial art, its practice
was allowed because jûdô was an Olympic event and the Soviet govern-
ment was hungry for medals. With the fall of the USSR, martial arts of all
styles were once again allowed into the Russian Federation. At the present
time, martial arts of all styles are freely practiced in the Federation and the
now-independent former republics, but sambo still is very popular and con-
tinues to be practiced in all areas of these nations in three forms: military
sambo, self-defense sambo, and sport sambo.
Military sambo is the branch of the art that was taught to select army
units and agents of the former KGB and GRU. The notorious KGB (Komi-
titet Gosudarstvenoj Bezopasnosti; Committee for State Security) was the
Soviet secret police responsible for both foreign espionage and internal re-
pression of Soviet citizens. The GRU (Gosudarstvenije Razvedivatelnije510 Sambo