Mikhail Ryabko

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mikhail Ryabko is a Colonel¹ in the Russian military, and founder of Ryabko's Systema.

His martial training was started at the age of five, by a member of Joseph Stalin's personal bodyguards with traditional Russian martial arts training. At 15 he was enlisted to the ranks of Spetsnaz (Russian special forces) and has served since.

He is active as a martial trainer and advisor and is the author of several publications as well as a textbook on Tactics of Spets Operations.

His most well-known student is Vladimir Vasiliev whose school is considered the Systema headquarters outside of Russia.

Note 1: In the Russian military, ranking and security access are directly tied. Ryabko is officially a Colonal but because he is a government special advisor, he has been awarded a rank of General for security clearance purposes.