Val Riazanov

Val Riazanov was born in 1970 in Soviet Union and from 1979 trained in Judo and Sambo as a member of the Russian Olympic squad for 6 years. During that time Val competed in numerous competitions and championships, and achieved the status “Master” on the International level in Sambo, and the rank of black belt 6th Dan in Judo. Val Riazanov was an active member of the Russian KGB Special Forces ! In

1987, Val joined the army as part of his compulsory military service, and after initial training was selected to join Russias Special Forces and later the KGB Special Operation Unit, where he was involved in numerous covert operations. Eventually Val, became a KGB trainer, training soldiers in hand to hand combat Sambo. After leaving the army Val moved to London and worked for 12 years as a Security Consultant for Government and private companies. During this time Val met, Michael Ryabko and became a qualified instructor and taught the Russian Martial Art known as Systema. Myself along with fellow professionals who work in the ‘front line’, face the harsh realities of street defense on a daily basis – if we are not ‘working’, then we are actively creating the situations that we are likely to face and believe me, we work with ‘real’ in mind and that includes real weapons.