Left-Extremist Endeavours

Firm integration in the
political system
KGB as a role model
Filling of important leadership
posts in government
and industry with
intelligence service officers
Russian intelligence and
security services
SVR (Russian: CBP)
GRU (ÃÐÓ)
II. Intelligence and Security Services of the
Russian Federation
1. Current Situation and Tasks of the Services;
Personnel Changes
The important status and the tasks of the intelligence and security
services of the Russian Federation were uncontested in
1999. They are firmly embedded in the political system; no
trenchant structural changes were made.
The Russian intelligence services are convinced of their
qualifications and skills. The civilian services, as before, consider
themselves the legitimate successors of the KGB of the former
Soviet Union and thus see themselves in line with the KGB’s
tradition. Thus for instance, in mid-1999, on the birthday of the
former KGB chief Andropov who died in 1984, flowers were laid
at his grave, and tribute was paid to his contribution to the
development of the Soviet state security system of that time.
Also, the fact that recently a number of top executive positions in
important government agencies, in the defence industry and in
government-controlled industrial undertakings and press agencies
were filled from among the high ranks of the Russian intelligence
services, can be seen as an indication proving that the
political leadership of the Russian Federation places trust in the
key personnel of the intelligence services and also credits them
with political qualifications.
In 1999, essentially the following intelligence and security services
were available to the Russian Federation:
• Foreign intelligence in the civil sector is the responsibility of
the Foreign-Intelligence Service SVR which has a staff of
some 15,000 and since January 1996 has been headed by
Army General Vyatsheslav TRUBNIKOV.
The SVR’s principal espionage targets are politics, science
and technology, and the economic sector. In addition, its
mission is - to the extent possible - to infiltrate intelligence
and security services of foreign countries and to spy on them
through counterintelligence.
• The military foreign-intelligence service GRU (Main Intelligence
Directorate), which is subordinate to the Russian Defence
Ministry, has a staff of some 12,000. This service,
which since May 1997 has been headed by Colonel General
Valentin KORABELNIKOV, is responsible for the collection of
military intelligence in the targeted foreign countries. The fo-
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