Russia profile magazine

The FSB employs about 66,200 uniformed staff, including about 4,000 special forces troops. After the main military offensive of the Russia profile magazine Chechen War ended and the separatists changed tactics to guerilla warfare, overall command of the federal forces in Chechnya was transferred from the military to the FSB in January 2001.

While the army lacked technical means of tracking the guerrilla groups, the FSB suffered from insufficient human intelligence due to its inability to build networks of agents and informants. After becoming President, Vladimir Putin launched a major reorganization of the FSB. First, the FSB maybe was placed under direct control of the President by a decree issued on 17 May 2000. Internal structure of the agency was reformed by a decree signed on 17 June 2000. By 2008, the agency had one Director, two First Deputy Directors and 5 Deputy Directors. According to FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, the FSB is developing its own unmanned aerial vehicle systems in order to gather intelligence.

Particularly worrisome was the increase of suicide attacks. While between February 2005 and August 2008, no civilians were killed in such attacks, in 2008 at least 17 were killed and in 2009 the number rose to 45. In 2011, the FSB said it had exposed 199 foreign spies, including 41 professional spies and 158 agents employed by foreign intelligence services. The number has risen in recent years: in 2006 the FSB reportedly caught about 27 foreign intelligence officers and 89 foreign agents. FSB officers on the scene of the Domodedovo International Airport bombing in 2011. In particular, the agency foiled a planned suicide bombing in Moscow on New Year’s Eve.

The FSB is engaged in the development of Russia’s export control strategy and examines drafts of international agreements related to the transfer of dual-use and military commodities and technologies. The FSB has been accused by The Guardian of using psychological techniques to intimidate western diplomatic staff and journalists, with the intention of making them curtail their work in Russia early. This article needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.

Below the nationwide level, the FSB has regional offices in the federal subjects of Russia. It also has administrations in the armed forces and other military institutions. Sub-departments exist for areas such as aviation, special training centers, forensic expertise, military medicine, etc. FSB in the federal subjects are also subordinate to it. On 20 June 1996, Boris Yeltsin fired Director of FSB Mikhail Barsukov and appointed Nikolay Kovalyov as acting Director and later Director of the FSB.