The Soviet Naval Infantry (Советская морская пехота Sovetskaya Morskaya Pekhota) or Soviet Marines, is the amphibious force of the Soviet Navy. The first Russian naval infantry force was formed in 1705, and since that time it has fought in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the First and Second World Wars. Under Admiral Gorshkov, the Soviet Navy expanded the reach of the Naval Infantry and deployed it worldwide on numerous occasions.
The Marines are led by the Deputy Commander for Coastal Troops/Commandant of the Coastal Troops of the Russian Navy, Major General (NI) Aleksandr Kolpachenko. Their motto: "There, Where We Are, There is Victory!"
They, alongside the Coastal Defense Missile Artillery Forces, form part of a larger institution—the Coastal Defense Forces of the Soviet Navy (Береговой обороны Силы ВМФ СССР Beregovoy Oborony Sily VMF SSSR)