Should we merge the FSO and the FSB? In Russia, the Ministry of State Security will be created from the FSB, FSO and SVR - Kommersant. When could the FSB reform happen, how did the rumors end?
A large-scale reform of security and law enforcement agencies is being prepared.
Rumors about a possible reform of the main Russian intelligence service, the FSB, appeared in the fall of 2016. Then the Kommersant publication reported on large-scale plans to reform law enforcement agencies in Russia. The information remained rumors; nothing concrete came of it. Nevertheless, interest in the topic of possible reform of the FSB remains, and possible reforms concern everyone - the FSB still has enormous powers and can intervene in the life of any person.
The question was: will the FSB reform happen in 2018, what changes could happen to the agency if the reform takes place?
It is planned to create a Ministry of State Security on the basis of the FSB, including the FSO and the SVR, to return the Investigative Committee to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which supervises it, and to divide the functions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” “For law-abiding citizens, the creation of this structure does not pose any threat, only for the enemies of Russia, for extremist-minded categories of citizens, for criminals of all stripes,” says Yanyshev. “We have already seen that the FSB showed its teeth when it identified a number of high-profile corrupt officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the gubernatorial corps.
In conditions of growing foreign economic and political risks, the creation of such a ministry will be justified.” The Investigative Committee will cease to be an independent body and will again become one of the structures of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, the status of the main divisions of the Investigative Committee will be lowered.
For example, the main military investigation department will eventually become a regular department. In addition to the above MGB Russian Federation will be endowed with a number of other important functions that the FSB did not previously perform. For example, next year it is planned that this body will carry out not only the function of ensuring criminal cases, but also supervising them.
In addition to structural changes, the new ministry will also receive new functions. For example, it is assumed that MGB officers will not only accompany and ensure investigations of criminal cases initiated based on their materials from the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but will also exercise procedural supervision over them. Let us note that the Main Directorate of Procedural Control of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, which performed these functions, has already been virtually liquidated. Moreover, the MGB will be responsible for ensuring its own security in all law enforcement and security agencies.
The reason for the creation of the new department was the desire to optimize and synchronize the work of previously separate structures. All bodies included in the new ministry previously had similar tasks and systems of action. The changes concern mainly internal structure ministries and federal services - with the exception of the Ministry of Defense, they will now be built in the image and likeness of the FSB, in which it existed for the last decade. It was decided to make departments the main structural unit of all “law enforcement” departments - instead of the previous main and “simple” departments.
Meanwhile, the FSB itself will most likely receive the status of a ministry in the near future, although its name, “Federal Security Service,” may remain the same. At the same time, the main structural divisions in the FSB will no longer be departments, but services. It is also planned to create services in the Ministry of Defense, to which the main and central departments. The tasks performed by the Federal Security Service will be retrained to ensure the security of the President of Russia.
The FSO will also deal with “special transport” and “special communications”. The Foreign Intelligence Service will be in charge of affairs with a specific focus. The FSB in the new department will be able to control the conduct of high-profile criminal cases, which were previously handled by the Investigative Committee. Previously, the State Fire Supervision was already part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In fact, they decided to disband the Ministry of Emergency Situations, transferring all its functions to other ministries and government departments.
Most likely, the emergency and rescue units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will move to the Ministry of Defense. The investigative department of the MGB, which will receive the status of a central directorate, will be able to take into its proceedings the most resonant and nationally significant criminal cases, the jurisdiction of which is currently assigned to the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is noteworthy that the MGB will have powers that the structures within it previously did not have.
For example, employees of one of the state law enforcement agencies will not only be involved in the investigation of criminal offenses opened by the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Investigative Committee, but will also be responsible for procedural supervision over them. Meanwhile, about the need to create such a powerful structure as a ministry state security, in Russia they have been saying for a long time - almost since the State Security Committee of the USSR broke up in the fall of 1991 into three autonomous structures, the names of which have probably already fallen out of the memory of new generations: MSB (Inter-Republican Security Service), TsSR (Central Intelligence Service) and the Committee for border protection.
The liquidation of the formidable KGB then looked like part of the defeatist “agreement” that the loser in the Cold War, but still the Soviet Kremlin, signed with the West. Atomization and fragmentation of state security into separate departments weakened the once powerful intelligence service, the former worthy rival The CIA destroyed established relationships of subordination and simply demoralized the security officers.
The author of these lines remembers how residents from Eastern Europe and found themselves useless and thrown out onto the street. No one knew their future and therefore did not think about the future of the country. Meanwhile, the SME was transformed into the AFB (federal security agency) of the RSFSR, then simply into the MB (ministry of security) of the Russian Federation, from which, in turn, the federal counterintelligence service emerged. And from it, in the summer of 1995, the current FSB of the Russian Federation was born - a version of the KGB. At the same time, the SVR (foreign intelligence service), FSO (federal security service), border troops, etc. were transferred to offline mode.
The optimization of the leadership team will not stop there, because the number of chairs in the new Ministry is limited. Investigators who have passed the certification will receive positions in the joint investigative structure - the Federal Investigation Service. The provision about it in at the moment is under development by the Administration of the President of Russia. Another part of the investigators will move to the prosecutor's office. At the same time, the remaining employees are promised to significantly increase their salaries and maintain benefits. It is also planned that specialists will continue investigations under those articles of the Criminal Code that they dealt with before the reform.
During the reform, serious changes may occur in the Investigative Committee of Russia. The Investigative Committee may once again become a structure under the Russian Prosecutor's Office, from which it was separated in 2011. Accordingly, the status of its main departments will be lowered. For example, the main military investigation department is supposed to be turned into a regular department. It is expected that the reform will increase the efficiency of the management of security forces and eradicate corruption in them. Preparations for the reform began after the liquidation of the FMS and FSKN and the creation of the Russian Guard.
N eo It is important to note the fact that preparations for the reorganization of the FSB next year were carried out successfully. By order of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the so-called Russian Guard was created, which included the internal troops of Russia, as well as the vast majority of the state’s internal affairs forces.
In addition, such a body as the Federal Service for Control of Drug Trafficking was liquidated. Their functions with next year will also be carried out by the FSB. It is planned that the FSB, as part of the new department, will exercise control over the conduct of the most high-profile criminal cases.
If earlier high-profile cases Usually handled by the Investigative Committee, now you can increasingly hear about high-profile investigations of criminal cases by FSB officers, so, most likely, this function will be assigned to the new department.
Another change is coming to Russia, and this time it will affect security and law enforcement departments and structures. Not long ago the news about FSB reform 2018 became public knowledge. In fact, a large-scale reorganization of the main government services aimed at ensuring security is being prepared.
It is expected that a new agency will be created - the Ministry of State Security (MGB). In addition to the FSB, other security agencies will also be included in the body ensuring the safety of the state. But first things first.
Ministry of Emergency Powers
The government plans to abolish some structures, rename and distribute functions in other law enforcement agencies. The new department - the Ministry of State Security - will be built on the basis Federal service security of the Russian Federation.
The reform will begin with the accession to the FSB of such structures as the FSO and the SVR (Federal Security Service and Foreign Intelligence Service). This will be followed by the return of the ICR (Investigative Committee) to the Prosecutor General's Office, which already supervises him. The Ministry of Emergency Situations expects imminent disbandment. Functions of the Ministry emergency situations will be transferred to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That is, all tasks and special missions assigned to the Ministry of Emergency Situations will be distributed between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
The reform in law enforcement and security agencies is designed to significantly increase the efficiency of management of these structures, completely get rid of corruption, and bring defense to new level. Preparations for the reform were more than successful - the Russian Guard was created by decree, which included internal troops and most departments of the internal affairs bodies. The Federal Drug Control Service and the FMS (Federal Service for Drug Control and Federal Migration Service) were also liquidated. The functions of these structures were transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
FSB with SVR and FSO
We already know that the FSB, on the basis of which the MGB will be created, will include the SVR and a number of FSO units. Many believe that the updated FSB will now perform the functions of the KGB (USSR State Security Committee).
Now the FSO will function as the Presidential Security Service. After the reform, under the control of the FSO, in addition to security, there will be transport services for senior officials and special communications.
The Ministry of State Security will also receive other functions that the departments included in the MGB did not perform previously. For example, it is planned that employees of the new government structure, in addition to supporting and ensuring the investigation of criminal cases that were initiated by the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will also exercise procedural supervision over them.
The investigative unit of the MGB, which will be awarded the status of the Main Directorate, will conduct the most “high-profile” criminal cases, as well as those that are of national importance. Today, control over such cases is assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee.
In addition, the Ministry of State Security of the Russian Federation will coordinate and ensure its own security in all security and law enforcement agencies.
Prosecutor General's Office and Investigative Committee
The Investigative Committee will cease to be an independent body and will again become one of the structures of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, the status of the main divisions of the Investigative Committee will be lowered. For example, the main military investigation department will eventually become a regular department.
Let us recall that from January 1, 2017, the main military prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation was reorganized into the department of the Prosecutor General's Office. The basis for such changes was a law adopted back in 2014.
Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Emergency Situations
According to confirmed data from trusted sources, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation will be reinforced and significantly strengthened by including fire, rescue and other services of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in its composition, as well as adding civil defense troops to them. The State Fire Inspectorate will move from the liquidated Ministry of Emergency Situations to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Previously, the State Fire Supervision was already part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In fact, they decided to disband the Ministry of Emergency Situations, transferring all its functions to other ministries and government departments. Most likely, the emergency and rescue units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will move to the Ministry of Defense.
Massive leadership change
It is clear that in the process of implementing the new reform, the government plans to replace the current heads of security and law enforcement departments and services. Such a step could lead to high-profile scandals, but it is necessary to eradicate corruption in the main structures that ensure the security of the state.
Thus, it is assumed that the creator of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, will no longer hold a managerial position. However, Bastrykin will not leave the department; he will be given an honorary post, deprived, however, of the powers of a leader.
Video news
The article was written specifically for the website “2018 Year of the Dog”: http://god-2018s.com
Security service employees told Novaya how the governor’s arrests are connected Kirov region Nikita Belykh, St. Petersburg billionaire Dmitry Mikhalchenko and the creation National Guard
Photo: Evgeny Feldman / Novaya Gazeta
On June 3, Nikita Belykh took part in Velikoretsky procession. It was on this day that the Kirov security officers received operational information that in the “near future” the governor would contribute 20-25 million in cash for the restoration of one of the Orthodox churches. The head of the region was not particularly encrypted: he spoke with the sponsor via mobile phone, telling him that summer is the time to start construction, that right now we need to help the church...
Belykh knew very well that helping the church, even if it is legally flawed, is not criminally punishable in our country,” says our interlocutor, a senior FSB officer. - There are a huge number of churches and mosques in Russia, built with money raised by regional leaders. This money did not always pass through charities. Much more often, priests and mullahs received money in cash... And it turned out: Whites were not taken for what they could be taken for. His arrest is a clear abuse of “conceptual authority.” And here's another reason - because, according to an unspoken rule, even the operational development of officials appointed by the president can only be carried out with Putin's personal permission. And Belykh was developed without the president’s blessing, under the guise of collecting information about Navalny
According to our interlocutor, in the last few months there has been a sharp escalation in the confrontation between two clans in the president’s circle - the FSB, whose informal leader is the head of the presidential administration Sergei Ivanov, and the ESF - the formal and informal leader of which was the long-term head of the Federal Security Service, Evgeny Murov.
The creation of the National Guard was a hardware victory for the FSO clan, our sources believe:
Talk that the National Guard was created to pacify protest sentiments is empty talk. We are not afraid of crowds, we are afraid of each other.
But there are reasons for concern. The fact is that the most serious function that the National Guard has acquired is the ability to conduct operational intelligence activities (OLA).
And no one can guarantee that FSB personnel stationed in ministries, departments, regions, and in the management of the country’s largest enterprises and banks will not fall under the operational investigation of National Guard operatives.
To be fair, it must be said that the FSO also deployed its personnel. For example, under each governor, according to our sources, there is a “supervisor” from the FSO. In some places he holds the position of head of the governor’s apparatus, in others he holds the position of assistant to the governor, and in others he holds the position of the governor himself...
Our sources in the FSO confirmed that the FSB clan took the decision to create the National Guard and vest the new formation with the functions of conducting operational intelligence operations rather painfully. The fact is that two processes were going on in parallel. Not only was it planned to create the National Guard, it was at this time that there was also active lobbying for the creation of the Ministry of State Security (MGB), in which they planned to unite the FSB, FSO and SVR. But Evgeny Murov managed to defend the independence of the department. Without the FSO, the creation of the MGB lost its meaning, the idea was postponed, but by that time the flywheel of the creation of the National Guard had already been launched.
The FSB clan could not calmly observe the process of the sharp strengthening of the FSB officers and dealt a painful blow to the “enemy.” On March 16, the famous St. Petersburg businessman Dmitry Mikhalchenko was arrested (details in Novaya, No. 65 of June 20, 2016). The FSB knew very well that Mikhalchenko was protected by the head of the FSO, Evgeny Murov. Moreover, according to our information, Murov introduced Mikhalchenko to Vladimir Putin, recommending him as an outstanding businessman who generously supports all presidential initiatives.
In fact, Mikhalchenko was arrested twice. When FSB officers “received” the businessman for the first time, the head of the operation, according to our sources, allegedly received a call from Evgeny Murov and the detainee was released. For which FSB officers received a scolding from the Moscow leadership. And they immediately rushed to arrest Mikhalchenko “for an encore.”
A few days after Mikhalchenko’s arrest, the leadership of the FSB reported to the president about the arrest of the businessman and about the role of members of the security clan (including among current colleagues - employees of the central apparatus of the FSB) in, so to speak, the business schemes of the St. Petersburg billionaire. Almost on this day, the fate of the unsinkable head of the FSO, Evgeniy Murov, was decided. He was sent on leave, from where he never returned to work. And on May 26, Putin signed a decree releasing Murov from the post of head of the FSO.
Another significant victory of the FSB clan was the liquidation of the Federal Drug Control Service and the dismissal of the head of the anti-drug agency, Viktor Ivanov, undoubtedly a heavyweight from the FSO clan.
Inspired by the tactical apparatus victory, the FSB clan went on the offensive, believing that amid the noise caused by Murov’s resignation, it was possible to clear the FSO and the central apparatus of the FSB of henchmen, the most prominent figure of which can be considered the head of the “K” department of the Service economic security FSB General Viktor Voronin. He became the first victim of the “purge.” According to our information, on June 11, a presidential decree was signed to relieve Voronin from his post. Rumors about serious personnel changes quickly began to spread in the FSB (details in Novaya, No. 59 of June 3, 2016). It was assumed that new managers would appear not only in the “K” department, but in several other departments of the SEB. And the head of the SEB himself began to pack his things to free up his office.
But the personnel changes dragged on. Our source in the FSO suggested that the FSB clan became nervous, not understanding what was happening, and, on top of everything else, made a fatal mistake by arresting Nikita Belykh. The FSO officer with whom we spoke, as well as the FSB officer, believes that the KGB officers who “received” the governor of the Kirov region exceeded their “conceptual authority.” First of all, because they did not report to the president about the “operational experiment” against Nikita Belykh. And by the fact that they immediately “leaked” information about his arrest to the media.
Perhaps this is a coincidence, but it was after the arrest of the governor of the Kirov region that reports on the dismissal of the head of the SEB and several departments of this service were returned “without consideration” to those who wrote them. Ivan Tkachev from the 6th Directorate of Internal Security of the FSB, who was trying out for the position of head of Directorate “K”, according to our information, will be appointed only 1st Deputy Directorate. And the department will be headed by Andrey Egorov, who is currently working there as 1st deputy. All other proposed reshuffles and resignations will apparently not take place.
Vladimir Putin signed decrees that reassigned the Security Council apparatus and most of heads of departments of the presidential administration (AP). The head of the Chechen government, Abubakar Edelgeriev, became the president's adviser. The expert did not rule out that this appointment may be a consequence of a change in the model of behavior of the federal center in the North Caucasus. Also officially announced was the appointment of Boris Yeltsin's son-in-law Valentin Yumashev as an adviser to the president on a voluntary basis. Over the 18 years that he allegedly holds this position, his functionality has never been defined.
The seven decrees signed by Vladimir Putin on June 22 practically complete the process of forming a new administration (only plenipotentiary representatives in the federal districts remain to be appointed). The update of the Administration turned out to be conditional: the leadership of the administration underwent only minor changes. All figures from the AP security bloc also retained their posts. Thus, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who has held the post since 2008, and his key deputies were reassigned. According to a Kommersant source in the leadership of one of the federal departments, some time ago a major reform of the security forces was discussed, implying the merger of the FSB, SVR and FSO into a single department. In this configuration, the current director of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, could go to work in the Security Council, and the joint security agency should be headed by the current head of the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin. But, according to Kommersant’s interlocutor, the reform did not find understanding among a number of influential officials, including the special representative of the president for ecology and environmental protection, former head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Ivanov: “Those who believed that the work of intelligence and counterintelligence should be divided."
The heads of almost all administration departments also retained their posts. Andrey Yarin will continue to head the department for domestic policy(UVP), Andrey Chobotov - anti-corruption department. According to Kommersant's information, Mr. Chobotov was lobbied by Sergei Ivanov, under whom he worked for many years. The head of the department for civil service and personnel Anton Fedorov was also reassigned. At the beginning of the year, Mr. Fedorov’s departure from the AP was discussed, Kommersant’s interlocutors said. Hardware support could be provided to him by the first deputy head of the Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.
Another associate of Mr. Kiriyenko, deputy head of the UVP Alexander Kharichev, headed the department for ensuring the activities of the State Council (he is supervised by Mr. Kiriyenko). At UVP, Mr. Kharichev was responsible for all regional election campaigns and was part of the informal campaign headquarters of Vladimir Putin. The presidential decree on optimizing the structure of the Administration also transferred interaction with expert organizations, monitoring and analysis of social processes to the management of the activities of the State Council. For these functions, as Kommersant wrote on June 15, Mr. Kharichev can take with him from the UVP the management assistant Olga Alliluyeva along with the information and analytical support department. Ms. Alliluyeva is engaged in assessing the socio-economic situation in the regions. According to Kommersant's information, she is also responsible for spending money from the president's reserve fund. Political scientist Andrei Kolyadin says that “the role of management will increase if there are versions of creating a new structure on the basis of the State Council that will allow Vladimir Putin to maintain influence on the main processes government structure after the end of their term of office, they will turn out to be at least partly truthful.” If this does not happen, then the management will do what it was doing - organizing council meetings, socio-economic and political monitoring of the situation in the Russian Federation, the expert explained.
The fate of the department for ensuring the constitutional rights of citizens remains unclear. Among the reassigned heads of departments, the name of its head, Dmitry Zhuikov, is not present. Mr. Zhuikov has been working at the AP since 1997, and since 2004 he has been heading the department. According to Kommersant's information, the work of the department is supervised by the head of the AP, Anton Vaino.
The corps of presidential advisers was replenished by Abubakar Edelgeriev, who held the post of head of the Chechen government until June 22. He was appointed instead of Alexander Bedritsky and will oversee climate issues. Political scientist Rostislav Turovsky admits that after personnel changes“the federal center will change the model of behavior in the North Caucasus,” and the appointment of people from Ramzan Kadyrov’s entourage to Moscow is “a concession to the Chechen elites,” especially since “all past years they have been trying to increase their influence on Moscow.” Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov recalls that “Chechnya receives money from Moscow, and in a situation of a shrinking financial pie, Ramzan Kadyrov needs as much as possible more people, who will explain to Moscow officials that the Chechen part of the pie cannot be touched.”
The situation with the appointment of the son-in-law of the first President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, Valentin Yumashev, as an adviser to the president on a voluntary basis, looks strange. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Valentin Yumashev has held this position for 18 years and was simply reassigned on June 22. Mr. Peskov did not explain why decrees on the reassignment of Mr. Yumashev were not published earlier and why this was needed now. Mr. Yumashev himself told TASS that he does not have a clearly defined range of issues for which he is responsible as an adviser: “If issues arise on which my experience and knowledge are in demand, I always do everything I can.” In 1996, Mr. Yumashev worked as an adviser to Boris Yeltsin, and from 1997 to 1998 he headed his administration. IN lately his name appeared mainly in connection with the shareholder wars around MMC Norilsk Nickel.
In winter, it was reported that he could take part in the next conflict between Norilsk Nickel's largest shareholders, including Vladimir Potanin's Interros (34% of shares) and Oleg Deripaska's Rusal (27.8%). Valentin Yumashev participated in concluding a shareholder agreement for Norilsk Nickel in 2012 - he agreed to act as an arbitrator if Roman Abramovich left the shareholders.
Sofia Samokhina, Ivan Safronov, Maxim Ivanov
The departments of the Presidential Administration were headed by:
- Department of Internal Policy - Andrey Yarin
- Directorate for Scientific and Educational Policy - Inna Bilenkina
- Department for Socio-Economic Cooperation with the CIS Member States, Abkhazia and South Ossetia - Oleg Govorun
- Office of the President - Alexander Golubev
- Office of the Protocol of the President of the Russian Federation - Anna Kulikova
- Directorate for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communication Infrastructure - Andrey Lipov
- Management by foreign policy- Alexander Manzhosin
- Department for handling appeals from citizens and organizations - Mikhail Mikhailovsky
- Public Projects Department - Sergey Novikov
- Office of State Awards - Vladimir Osipov
- Information and Documentation Support Department - Sergey Osipov
- Expert Directorate of the President - Vladimir Simonenko
- Public Relations and Communications Department - Alexander Smirnov
- Department of Civil Service and Personnel - Anton Fedorov
- Operations Support Department State Council RF - Alexander Kharichev
- Press Service and Information Department - Andrey Tsybulin
- Department for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries - Vladimir Chernov
- Anti-Corruption Department - Andrey Chobotov
