Understanding Russia’s Intelligence Agencies Part 1 : The FSB explained

The FSB’s Role in Balancing Domestic Authority and Global Influence

6 min readAug 4, 2024

Introduction

Russia is a dominant player when it comes to intelligence operations. Among it’s different agencies, the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) stand out due to their high impact roles in intelligence gathering and operations. In this article we will focus on the FSB and understand its roles, notable incidents and geopolitical impact.

The FSB has inherited the responsibilities and values once held by the Soviet-era KGB. Established as the main domestic security agency, the FSB’s primary focus is of protecting Russian borders, countering terrorism and maintaining the stability of the country.

Understanding both domestic and global roles of the FSB is important because it lets us appreciate how its strategic actions from counter-terrorism to cyber operations shape the global stage.

Historical Evolution

The FSB, reflecting the core values and responsibilities of the KGB, was formed following the dismantling of the KGB. It’s abolishment came after its head, Vladimir Kryuchkov, along with other KGB units, failed a coup attempt in November 1991. In response, then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismantled the KGB and created two new agencies: the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information (FAPSI).

In 1993, following the Russian Constitutional Crisis where Yeltsin dissolved the parliament and implemented a system that granted him unchallenged promulgation of law, a decree intended to allow quicker decisions during a crisis but easily abused and a key feature of dictatorships.

Due to massive riots caused by this event, the Ministry of Security was reorganized into the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service (FSK) to counter the potential civil war. The FSK was later renamed and reorganized into the FSB in April 1995. Vladimir Putin was appointed the director of the FSB in 1998 by President Yeltsin and later took over the presidency in 1999 following Yeltsin’s early resignation.

Role of the FSB

The FSB is Russia’s primary domestic security agency, primarily tasked with counterintelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance. Although the role of the FSB is mainly focused on homeland security, it does conduct surveillance and monitoring of the “near abroad” independent republics of former Soviet Union states.

Near Abroad Regions:

Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Eastern Europe: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova
Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Divisions of the FSB:
According to Wikipedia, there are nine divisions within the FSB:

Counter-Espionage
Service for Defense of Constitutional Order and Fight against Terrorism
Border Service
Economic Security Service
Current Information and International Links
Organizational and Personnel Service
Monitoring Department
Scientific and Technical Service
Organizational Security Service

Comparison with Foreign Counterparts

The FSB can be compared to domestic security agencies like the FBI in the United States and MI5 in the United Kingdom. The FSB does have a wider scope and more extensive powers compared to its Western counterparts. While both the FBI and MI5 focus primarily on domestic intelligence and security, the FSB operates with greater authority over both domestic and international activities, including significant influence and operations in the “near abroad” regions.

Notable Incidents

1999 Apartment Bombings: A series of explosions in Russian apartment buildings killed nearly 300 people and were blamed on Chechen militants. This incident was one of the triggers for the Second Chechen War. However, people suspect that the FSB orchestrated the attacks to justify the war and bolster Vladimir Putin’s popularity.
2002 Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis: Chechen militants took 912 hostages at the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow. Their demands were for Russian forces to withdraw from Chechnya and to end the Second Chechen War. The FSB’s response was to gas the theater using a fentanyl derivative to knock out the terrorists. The chemical agent ended up killing roughly 130 of these hostages.
2004 Beslan School Hostage Crisis: Chechen terrorists took more than 1,100 people hostage, including 777 children, at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. The FSB-led rescue operation resulted in over 330 deaths, including 186 children. The operation faced significant criticism due to the tactics employed and the heavy weaponry such as the Shmel rocket flamethrowers, a “thermobaric weapon that ignites the air, sucking the oxygen out of an enclosed area and creating a massive pressure wave crushing anything unfortunate enough to have lived through the conflagration”. Critics argued that the operation prioritized eliminating the terrorists over rescuing the hostages.
2018 Salisbury Novichok Poisoning: FSB operatives were suspected to be involved in the poisoning of former Russian spy and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England using a very popular Russian State nerve agent Novichok. Symptoms of Novichok poisoning includes sweating, wheezing, difficulty breathing, convulsions, involuntary urination, defecation, vomiting, and can cause lasting nerve and organ damage for survivors.
2020 Navalny Poisoning: On 20 August 2020, Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent. Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, which the Kremlin denied. An investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider implicated FSB agents in the poisoning, but Russian prosecutors claimed that no crime had been committed.
2024 Crocus City Hall Attack: Criticized for failing to prevent a major terrorist attack despite repeated warnings by the US Government of a planned attack in Moscow.

Cyber Operations

2016 US Election Interference: The FSB and GRU were implicated in a campaign to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election. This included hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and releasing stolen emails through WikiLeaks. They were also involved in the spread of disinformation through social media to influence public opinion and undermine the electoral process.
2017 Westminster Cyber Attack: The FSB was involved in a cyber attack on the UK Parliament, targeting email accounts of MPs across multiple parties. The attackers used spear-phishing campaigns and attempted to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.
2018 Hack of UK-US Trade Documents: Ahead of the UK General Election, trade documents detailing UK-US trade negotiations were hacked and leaked online. The documents were used in disinformation campaigns to sway public opinion.
2019–2020 Attacks on Russian Critics: The FSB conducted multiple cyber operations against prominent Russian dissidents and critics of the Kremlin. This included spear-phishing attempts against associates of opposition activists Alexei Navalny and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as well as monitoring and hacking activities targeting the website “dossier.center” which exposes corruption within the Russian government.

Geopolitical Impact

The FSB has a huge influence on geopolitics, both domestically and internationally. They do not shy away from the use of “Active Measures” such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination.

Domestically, the FSB maintains Russia’s internal stability and ensure the Kremlin’s control over society by managing counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism and political dissent. It reinforces the current regime’s authority by its aggressive posture towards political opposition and civil society.

Globally, the FSB tries to subvert foreign political events and influence public opinion by any means necessary.

The incidents mentioned in this article shows the FSB’s wide and aggressive measures when it comes to advancing Russia’s interests.

Conclusion:

The FSB remains influential in Russia’s security landscape. They play an important role in maintaining internal stability and enforcing Kremlin authority, often aggressively. Its history with the KGB shows its connection to Soviet-era security practices.

Understanding the FSB, from its role in domestic security to its international operations, is important for grasping Russia’s strategic objectives and its approach to geopolitics. The FSB’s influence and its approach to events deemed a threat to Kremlin rule show its importance in Russia’s geopolitical strategy and its persistent quest for global dominance.

Additional Resources:

Author’s notes:

I decided to write this article after reading “Killer in the Kremlin” by John Sweeney. It talks about Putin’s early years in the KGB and his rise to presidency which eventually led to 2022 Ukraine War. I highly recommend those who have interest in the recent conflicts in Russia to pick this book up.

My article was initially titled “ Understanding Russia’s Intelligence Agencies : FSB, SVR, and GRU Explained” but I realized how complicated it would be to squeeze in the rich history and all the operations conducted by the three different agencies. I decided to break this into a three part series where I’ll write about the individual agencies instead.