Federal Security Service (Russia)

Federal Security Service (Russia)

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) (Russian: ФСБ, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации; Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security (KGB). Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance. Its headquarters are on Lubyanka Square, downtown Moscow.

The direct predecessor of the FSB was the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK). On 3 April 1995, President Boris Yeltsin signed a law ordering a reorganisation of the FSK, which resulted in the creation of the FSB. In 2003, the FSB's responsibilities were widened with the integration of the Border Guard Service and a major part of the abolished Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information (FAPSI). The FSB was made subordinate to the Ministry of Justice by presidential decree on 9 March 2004. The Director of FSB, since 2008, is Aleksandr Bortnikov.

According to the federal law, the FSB is considered a military service just like the Armed Forces, MVD Internal Troops, FSO, SVR, FSKN and EMERCOM's civil defence.

Read more about Federal Security Service (Russia):  Overview, Organization, Criticism

Famous quotes containing the words federal, security and/or service:

    There are always those who are willing to surrender local self-government and turn over their affairs to some national authority in exchange for a payment of money out of the Federal Treasury. Whenever they find some abuse needs correction in their neighborhood, instead of applying the remedy themselves they seek to have a tribunal sent on from Washington to discharge their duties for them, regardless of the fact that in accepting such supervision they are bartering away their freedom.
    Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)

    It is hard for those who have never known persecution,
    And who have never known a Christian,
    To believe these tales of Christian persecution.
    It is hard for those who live near a Bank
    To doubt the security of their money.
    —T.S. (Thomas Stearns)

    The ability to think straight, some knowledge of the past, some vision of the future, some skill to do useful service, some urge to fit that service into the well-being of the community,—these are the most vital things education must try to produce.
    Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)