Left-Extremist Endeavours

FSB (ÔÑÁ)
PATRUSHEV, the new FSB
chief
Restructuration in sectoral
areas
cus is on military-political, strategic and geographical intelligence
as well as on espionage in the sector of defence industry
and technical products that can be used for military
purposes.
In late 1998, the Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces,
Army General Anatolij KVASHNIN, published an article, entitled
"80 Years in the Service of the Fatherland", on the importance
of the GRU in the military journal "Krasnaya
Zvezda" ("Red Star"). In that article, he took the view that
"military intelligence was, and still is, the most important instrument
of Russian military policy". Protection of Russia’s
national interests and its international position were not
based on military and economic capabilities, but primarily
also on a balanced and hard-line approach to foreign policy.
Such an approach could only be defined by means of timely,
precise, complete and modern collection of information with
intelligence means.
The Federal Security Service FSB is a domestic counterintelligence
and security service responsible for civilian and military
counterespionage and for the fight against terrorism and organized
crime. To a certain extent - e.g. in the context of fighting
industrial espionage, of military counterintelligence, or in cases of
transfrontier organized crime - it also is authorized to carry out
intelligence activities abroad. Its staff is estimated to number
some 100,000.
On August 9, the Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed
Lieutenant General Nicolaj PATRUSHEV, previously Putin’s
deputy, as the new FSB chief. After his graduation as a shipbuilding
engineer, PATRUSHEV had taken up service with the
KGB of the former Soviet Union. Until early 1998 he was a
state security officer of the KGB and, after its dissolution, of
the FSB. After a short assignment to the Russian
Presidential administration, he returned to the FSB in late
1998.
In mid-1999, the organizational units of the FSB responsible
for countering industrial espionage reportedly underwent a
restructuration. At about the same time, Putin - the FSB chief
at that time - announced that a ’protection of the Constitution’
division had been established within the FSB. Its task was
not to "keep the political opposition down", but to deal with
left-wing and right-wing extremist groups. Moreover,
measures have reportedly been launched, which might result
in further re-organization of this service and in enhancing the
effectiveness of its work.
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