Federal Protective Service of Russia
Федеральная служба охраны России
Emblem of the Federal Guard Service
Emblem of the Federal Guard Service
Flag of the Federal Guard Service
Flag of the Federal Guard Service
Common nameFederal Protective Service
AbbreviationFSO
MottoФСО
Agency overview
Formed27 May 1996 (1996-05-27)
Preceding agency
  • Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani (GUO)
EmployeesClassified (50,000 estimated)
Annual budgetClassified
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency
(Operations jurisdiction)
Russia
Operations jurisdictionRussia
Legal jurisdictionThroughout Russia and its Republics
Governing bodyPresidential Administration of Russia
Constituting instrument
  • Law On State Protection
General nature
Specialist jurisdiction
  • Protection of international or domestic VIPs, protection of significant state assets.
Operational structure
HeadquartersMoscow Kremlin
Sworn membersClassified
Agency executive
Parent agencyPresidential Administration of Russia
Child agency
Website
www.fso.gov.ru

The Federal Protective Service, or the Federal Guard Service (Russian: Федеральная служба охраны, ФСО, romanized: Federalnaya sluzhba okhrany, FSO) of the Russian Federation, official name in English Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation,[1] is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several high-ranking state officials, mandated by the relevant law, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties. It traces its origin to the USSR's Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB and later Presidential Security Service (SBP) led by KGB general Alexander Korzhakov.

On May 27, 1996, the law "On State Protection" reorganized the GUO (Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani) into the FSO (Federal Protection Service). Under article 7 of the law, "the President of the Russian Federation, while in office, shall not be allowed to forego state protection."[2]

FSO includes the Russian Presidential Security Service.[3] The FSO includes an estimated 50,000 troops[4] and controls the "black box" that can be used in the event of nuclear war.[5] It reportedly uses advanced domestic technical developments.[6]

Structure and command

Since May 18, 2000, and until May 26, 2016, the agency was headed by General Evgeny Murov; since May 26, 2016, the head of the service is General Dmitry Kochnev. The FSO has roughly 50,000 uniformed personnel plus several thousand plain-clothed personnel. It controls the Cheget that can be used in the event of a global nuclear war. It also operates a secure communications system for senior government officials. The FSO is a powerful institution with a range of rights and powers, including the right to conduct searches and surveillance without warrants, make arrests, and give orders to other state agencies.

A soldier of the Kremlin Regiment in a full dress uniform at Post No. 1 (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier).

The FSO is organized into the following services:

One of the FSO units is the Kremlin Regiment. A more recent addition to the FSO infrastructure is the Special Communications Service of Russia (Spetsviaz) which was incorporated as a structural sub unit on August 7, 2004.

History of the federal protective services

  • Special department by VChK College
  • Special department of GPU
  • Special department by OGPU College – Dec 1929
  • 5th department (special safeguard) of Operod, SOU OGPU, Jan 1930 – Mar 1931
  • 5th department (special safeguard) of Operod, SOU OGPU, Mar–Jun 1931
  • 4th department of Operod, OGPU, Jun 1931
  • Operod of OGPU
  • Operative division (Operod) of GUGB NKVD USSR, Jul 1934 – Nov 1936
  • Division of safeguard by GUGB NKVD USSR, Dec 1936 – Jun 1938
  • Department of Moscow Kremlin's commandant, NKVD USSR
  • 1st division of 1st Department by NKVD USSR, Jun–Sep 1938
  • 1st division of GUGB
  • 1st division of NKGB
  • Department of Moscow Kremlin's commandant, NKGB USSR
  • 1st division of NKVD
  • Department of Moscow Kremlin's commandant, NKVD USSR
  • Sixth department of NKGB USSR, Apr 1943 – Mar 1946
  • Department of Moscow Kremlin's commandant, NKGB USSR
  • Sixth department of MGB USSR, Mar–Apr 1946
  • Department of safeguard No. 1, MGB, Apr–Dec 1946
  • Department of safeguard No. 2, MGB, Apr–Dec 1946
  • Department of Moscow Kremlin's commandant, MGB USSR, Dec 1946
  • Headquarters of safeguard, MGB USSR, Dec 1946 – May 1952
  • Department of safeguard, MGB, May 1952
  • Ninth department of MVD USSR, Mar 1953 – Mar 1954
  • Tenth department of MVD USSR, Mar 1953 – Mar 1954
  • Ninth department of KGB by SM USSR, Mar 1954 –
  • Tenth department of KGB by SM USSR, Mar 1954 –
  • Fifteenth department of KGB by SM USSR
  • Ninth department of KGB USSR
  • Fifteenth department of KGB USSR
  • Service of safeguard, KGB USSR
  • Department of safeguard by USSR President
  • Main Administration of Protection (GUO – Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani) (1992–1996)
  • Federal Protective Service (FSO) (1996–today)[7]

List of leaders

Heads of the GUO/Directors of the FSO

Deputy Directors of the FSO

  • Oleg Klimentyev (First Deputy Director since 2015)
  • Vladimir Belanovsky – Head of the Services of Special Communications and Information
  • Alexey Rubezhnoy – Head of the Presidential Security Service
  • Victor Tulupov
  • Major General Sergey Udovenko – Commandant of the Moscow Kremlin[9]

Prominent defectors

  • Gleb Karakulov (engineer in field unit of FSO presidential communications department)

See also

References

  1. (in English) Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation Archived March 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. (in Russian) Статья 7 Федерального Закона О государственной охране 1996 года Archived 2019-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Служба безопасности Президента" [Service of President's Security]. Agentura.Ru. Archived from the original on 2015-03-25.
  4. Ellyatt, Holly (2022-03-30). "Putin might be seen as a 'mad dictator' — but he has built powerful barriers to prevent a coup". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  5. Earley, pages 161–177
  6. "Russian protective service uses unique domestic innovations, says official".
  7. The FSB control
  8. "Дмитрий Кочнев назначен директором ФСО России". 26 May 2016.
  9. "Путин включил нового коменданта Кремля в оргкомитет по подготовке к 75-летию Победы" (in Russian). TASS.
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