GRU

American

Or G.R.U.

(in the Soviet Union) the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Soviet General Staff, a military intelligence organization founded in 1920 and functioning as a complement to the KGB.

GRU British

abbreviation

(formerly) the Soviet military intelligence service; the military counterpart of the KGB

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of GRU

< Russian, for Glávnoe razvédyvatel'noe upravlénie

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Then there’s the upstart GRU Space, created just last year with the goal of building hotels on the moon.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 31, 2026

That August, Suranovas was arrested and charged with carrying out an act of terrorism on behalf of Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

The delegation was led by the deputy head of Russia's GRU military intelligence, Andrei Averyanov, the National Assembly president told AFP.

From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026

A career military officer, Alekseyev has been the first deputy chief of the GRU since 2011.

From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026

He gave details of how the GRU was organized.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023