I remember that set of NATO ground troops. It was the only set of 1/72 figures I ever bought. I must have been 11 or 12 at the time. They languished in my bits box for decades, as I had some great ideas for a diorama, but this never came to fruition. I remember putting some nails with the tops cut off and a bend at the top into a square piece of multiplex, with some mosquito mesh as a chainlinked fence, but that's as far as I ever came.
Most of the troops in the set were in NBC gear, but the dog handler and several others have proven to be very useful some years ago when I was doing terrain and other elements for Gaslands.
The one with the signals was repurposed as a crashed Star trek cosplayer by removing the paddles, lying him flat on the ground and painting him as a TOS redshirt

Your painting is really nice; they're an obvious coherent unit, and should put up at least some resistance to those Spetznas you mentioned
