FSB

FSB   (Intelligence agency)
Abbreviation	FSB
Predecessor	KGB
Formation	12 April, 1995
Parent organization	Russia
Headquarters	Lubyanka Square, Moscow, Russia
Leaders	• Director of the Federal Security Service • Alexander Bortnikov
Staff	200,000–300,000

FSB are the initial letters of the Russian words Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti - Federal Security Service - the country's secret police.

Known as the KGB during the days of the Soviet Union, the secret service was dismantled in 1991 and its successor FSK (Federalnaya Sluzhba Kontrrazvedki or Federal Counterintelligence Service) was reorganised into the FSB in 1995.

On 17 November 2015, Russian investigators announced that Metrojet Flight 9268 had been brought down by a bomb on board. "One can unequivocally say that it was a terrorist act," Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's FSB security service, told a meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin, according to a transcript published on the Kremlin's website. He said traces of explosives had been found in the wreckage of the Airbus A321, which crashed shortly after take off from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh airport and was packed with Russian holidaymakers heading home to St Petersburg. Citing experts, Mr Bortnikov said the plane disintegrated in mid-air after the detonation of a bomb with the equivalent of a kilogram of TNT.

In a statement on its website, the FSB said it was offering a $50 million reward for "information helping to arrest the criminals" behind the bombing. President Putin ordered Russia's foreign ministry to contact all Moscow's partners for assistance and said that it was counting on "our friends" to help find and punish those responsible for the sabotage of Metrojet Flight 9268.

 

Events carried out

Event	Location	Description
9-99/Ryazan incident	Russia 9-99/Ryazan incident	Moscow FSB officers discovered wiring up what looked like a bomb in the basement of a building by night. Local FSB unaware. Claimed to be a terror drill but no documentation was presented. Instead documents were sealed and discussion of it prohibited in the Duma.
Russian apartment bombings	Russia	A 'Russian 9/11' which boosted support for the second war that was launched in Chechnya

 

Employee on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End	Description
Vladimir Putin	Director of the Federal Security Service	25 July 1998	9 August 1999	Note that the 9/99 bombings were carried out in September 1999

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