Russian Intelligence Services

   Following the 1991 August putsch, Russian President Boris Yeltsin began to systematically dismantle the KGB. Over the next year, several different services were created, all of which reported to the president through a newly established National Security Council. The Sluzhba vneshnei razvedki (Foreign Intelligence Service), or SVR, was built from the First Chief Directorate. The Federalnaya sluzhba bezopasnosti (Federal Security Service), or FSB, includes the counterintelligence and security components of the KGB. The Federalnoe agentsvo pravitelstevennoi svyazi i informatatsii (Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information), or FAPSI, includes KGB components responsible for government communications and signals intelligence. The Prezidenskaya sluzhba bezopasnosti (Presidential Security Service), or PSB, was drawn from the KGB components responsible for leadership protection.

   Other security services were created to deal with technical counterintelligence and counterterrorism. The new Russian services are robust and well financed. For example, the FSB is by far the largest security service in the world, except for the People’s Republic of China. While president of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin maintained control of these organizations through the appointment process. He appointed KGB veteran Vladimir Putin to head the FSB in 1998 to intensify surveillance of personal opponents. (One wonders if a Communist Party general secretary would have acted any differently.) As president, Putin has used the same tactics to ensure his close supervision of the service. He has promoted many of his former KGB colleagues to senior positions in the presidential apparatus, as well as the FSB and SVR.