Federal Protective Service of Russia
Федеральная служба охраны России
Emblem of the Federal Guard Service
Emblem of the Federal Guard Service
Flag of the Federal Guard Service
Flag of the Federal Guard Service
Common nameFederal Protective Service
AbbreviationFSO
MottoФСО
Agency overview
Formed27 May 1996; 27 years ago (1996-05-27)
Preceding agency
  • Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani (GUO)
EmployeesClassified (50,000 estimated)
Annual budgetClassified
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency
(Operations jurisdiction)		Russia
Operations jurisdictionRussia
Legal jurisdictionThroughout Russia and its Republics
Governing bodyPresidential Administration of Russia
Constituting instrument
  • Law On State Protection
General nature
Specialist jurisdiction
  • Protection of international or domestic VIPs, protection of significant state assets.
Operational structure
HeadquartersMoscow Kremlin
Sworn membersClassified
Agency executive
Parent agencyPresidential Administration of Russia
Child agency
Website
www.fso.gov.ru

The Federal Protective Service, or the Federal Guard Service (Russian: Федеральная служба охраны, ФСО, romanized: Federalnaya sluzhba okhrany, FSO) of the Russian Federation, official name in English Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation,[1] is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several high-ranking state officials, mandated by the relevant law, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties. It traces its origin to the USSR's Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB and later Presidential Security Service (SBP) led by KGB general Alexander Korzhakov.

On May 27, 1996, the law "On State Protection" reorganized the GUO (Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani) into the FSO (Federal Protection Service). Under article 7 of the law, "the President of the Russian Federation, while in office, shall not be allowed to forego state protection."[2]

FSO includes the Russian Presidential Security Service.[3] The FSO includes an estimated 50,000 troops[4] and controls the "black box" that can be used in the event of nuclear war.[5] It reportedly uses advanced domestic technical developments.[6]

Structure and command

Since May 18, 2000, and until May 26, 2016, the agency was headed by General Evgeny Murov; since May 26, 2016, the head of the service is General Dmitry Kochnev. The FSO has roughly 50,000 uniformed personnel plus several thousand plain-clothed personnel. It controls the Cheget that can be used in the event of a global nuclear war. It also operates a secure communications system for senior government officials. The FSO is a powerful institution with a range of rights and powers, including the right to conduct searches and surveillance without warrants, make arrests, and give orders to other state agencies.

A soldier of the Kremlin Regiment in a full dress uniform at Post No. 1 (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier).

The FSO is organized into the following services:

One of the FSO units is the Kremlin Regiment. A more recent addition to the FSO infrastructure is the Special Communications Service of Russia (Spetsviaz) which was incorporated as a structural sub unit on August 7, 2004.

History of the federal protective services

List of leaders

Heads of the GUO/Directors of the FSO

Deputy Directors of the FSO

Prominent defectors

See also

References

  1. ^ (in English) Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation Archived March 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ (in Russian) Статья 7 Федерального Закона О государственной охране 1996 года Archived 2019-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Служба безопасности Президента" [Service of President's Security]. Agentura.Ru. Archived from the original on 2015-03-25.
  4. ^ Ellyatt, Holly (2022-03-30). "Putin might be seen as a 'mad dictator' — but he has built powerful barriers to prevent a coup". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  5. ^ Earley, pages 161–177
  6. ^ "Russian protective service uses unique domestic innovations, says official".
  7. ^ The FSB control
  8. ^ "Дмитрий Кочнев назначен директором ФСО России". 26 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Путин включил нового коменданта Кремля в оргкомитет по подготовке к 75-летию Победы" (in Russian). TASS.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation.
Law enforcement in Russia
Russian Intelligence Community
Government of the Russian Federation
Categories