Federal Security Service

Federal Security Service

▪ Russian government agency
Russian  Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti , formerly (1994–95)  Federal Counterintelligence Service 

      Russian internal security and counterintelligence service created in 1994 as one of the successor agencies of the Soviet-era KGB. It is responsible for counterintelligence, antiterrorism, and surveillance of the military. The FSB occupies the former headquarters of the KGB on Lubyanka Square in downtown Moscow.

      During the late 1980s, as the Soviet government and economy were crumbling, the KGB survived better than most state institutions, suffering far fewer cuts in its personnel and budget. The agency was dismantled, however, after an attempted coup in August 1991 against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Gorbachev, Mikhail) in which some KGB units participated. In early 1992 the internal security functions of the KGB were reconstituted first as the Ministry of Security and less than two years later as the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), which was placed under the control of the president. In 1995 Russian President Boris Yeltsin (Yeltsin, Boris) renamed the service the FSB and granted it additional powers, enabling it to enter private homes and to conduct intelligence activities in Russia as well as abroad in cooperation with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

      Despite early promises to reform the Russian intelligence community, the FSB and the services that collect foreign intelligence and signals intelligence (the SVR and the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information) remained largely unreformed and subject to little legislative or judicial scrutiny. Although some limits were placed on the FSB's domestic surveillance activities—for example, spying on religious institutions and charitable organizations was reduced—all the services continued to be controlled by KGB veterans schooled under the old regime. Moreover, few former KGB officers were removed following the agency's dissolution, and little effort was made to examine the KGB's operations or its use of informants.

      In 1998 Yeltsin appointed as director of the FSB Vladimir Putin (Putin, Vladimir), a KGB veteran who would later succeed Yeltsin as federal president. Yeltsin also ordered the FSB to expand its operations against labour unions in Siberia and to crack down on right-wing dissidents. As president, Putin increased the FSB's powers to include countering foreign intelligence operations, fighting organized crime, and suppressing Chechen separatists.

      The FSB, the largest security service in Europe, is extremely effective at counterintelligence. Human rights activists, however, have claimed that it has been slow to shed its KGB heritage, and there have been allegations that it has manufactured cases against suspected dissidents and used threats to recruit agents. At the end of the 1990s, critics charged that the FSB had attempted to frame Russian academics involved in joint research with Western arms-control experts.

Robert W. Pringle
 

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation — Infobox Law enforcement agency agencyname = Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation nativename = nativenamea = Федеральная служба безопасности nativenamer = commonname = Federal Security Service abbreviation = FSB patch = patchcaption …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Security Service — noun the internal counterintelligence agency of the Russian Federation and successor to the Soviet KGB; formerly led by Vladimir Putin • Syn: ↑Federal Security Bureau, ↑FSB • Hypernyms: ↑Russian agency …   Useful english dictionary

  • Federal Protective Service — may refer to:*United States Federal Protective Service, responsible for the security of Federal buildings *Federal Protective Service of Russia, the successor of the KGB Ninth Chief Directorate, now an independent organization …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Customs Service of Russia — The Federal Customs Service of Russia (Russian: Федеральная таможенная служба Российской Федерации, ФТС России) is a Russian government service regulating customs. Since May 12, 2006, it has been led by Andrey Belyaninov Notes External links… …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Security Bureau — noun the internal counterintelligence agency of the Russian Federation and successor to the Soviet KGB; formerly led by Vladimir Putin • Syn: ↑FSB, ↑Federal Security Service • Hypernyms: ↑Russian agency …   Useful english dictionary

  • Security Service Federal Credit Union — Infobox Company name = Security Service Federal Credit Union type = Credit union genre = foundation = 1956 founder = location city = San Antonio, Texas location country = USA locations = 25 service centers in South Texas; 13 in Colorado; 4… …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Security Agency — The Federal Security Agency (FSA) was an independent agency of the United States government established in 1939 pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939 (P.L. 19, 76th Cong., 1st sess.). For a time, the agency administered the Social Security… …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Security Agency —    Established under the Reorganization Plan of 1939, the Federal Security Agency brought a number of agencies, including the Social Security Board, Public Health Service, U.S. Office of Education, National Youth Administration, Civilian… …   Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt–Truman Era

  • Federal Penitentiary Service Intelligence — Inteligencia del Servicio Penitenciario Federal (Federal Penitentiary Service Intelligence) is the intelligence agency of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Argentina, and it is controlled by the Ministry of Justice.ee also*Argentine Federal… …   Wikipedia

  • Federal Protective Service — noun an agency in the General Services Administration that is a security organization to provide a safe environment where Federal agencies can conduct their business • Syn: ↑FPS • Hypernyms: ↑independent agency • Part Holonyms: ↑General Services… …   Useful english dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”