FSB rules. Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation

The future, which Western analysts are diligently studying, has established: Russia in the coming years will be ruled not by Putin personally and not by his protege, appointed according to the Yeltsin canon, but by an all-powerful team of military and special services. True, the option of a nosy “heir to the throne” who will trick the “tired” Putin in time is not excluded.

Putin's re-election? It's obvious. What about continuity? Neil McFarquhar discusses this topic in one of the largest American newspapers -. Mr. MacFarquhar offers a very unconventional view of Russia's future. More precisely, for the future of governing Russia.

What do Russian analysts think today about the upcoming election campaign that will precede the 2018 presidential elections? Their answers are very similar: tent, carnival, parallel reality, and so on.

The obvious victory of Vladimir Putin in the upcoming elections does not seem as important to the author of the material as the opinion of those experts who assure him that the real fight will unfold not in 2018, but closer to 2024, is important to him. In that struggle, it will become clear who will inherit the next six years in power.

Putin’s “courtiers” today are approximately 40 or 50 people. These are the Kremlin people and their oligarch allies, the journalist believes. And so they will spend the coming years in the “struggle” for the “next presidential term” and, therefore, for the future of the state.

"The choice itself doesn't matter," says Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and former Kremlin consultant. People around the president “are deciding who they themselves will be after Putin. This is the main motive of the struggle: the battle for a place in the system after Putin leaves.”

True, no one “can be sure” what Mr. Putin will do when his next term ends, MacFarquhar said. People from his inner circle are still preparing for the day when he leaves the presidency. These individuals "seek to maintain their power and avoid any consequences that may follow a change in leadership." Therefore, after the end of the last constitutional term in the Kremlin, Putin’s “court” will focus “more on self-preservation than on serving Putin.”

It is expected that the upcoming struggle for power in Russia will demonstrate “all the drama” that the current presidential race is “so lacking.” Intrigues are expected to break out from behind the Kremlin walls.

And the “corruption” case of former minister Ulyukaev will seem like flowers here.

“It is impossible to hide the enormous tension, the enormous degree of uncertainty that has created within the Russian elite,” says Konstantin Gaase, a political analyst who works on the website of the Carnegie Moscow Center. These people, he said, “will do stupid things; they will blackmail each other; they will write denunciations against each other and put them on Putin’s table.”

According to other analysts, President Putin now thinks that trying to retain his post in the Kremlin for life would be a mistake. Anyone who sits on the throne for too long can be overthrown: this was well demonstrated by the recent bitter experience of President Mugabe in Zimbabwe, who sat in the chair for 37 years.

“Putin thinks of himself as a historical figure, and he knows that if he wants to get into the history books, he should not repeat Mugabe’s mistake: he must choose the right time and leave,” says Konstantin Kalachev, political strategist and head of the Political expert group."

“He can’t just leave,” Haase opined. “He knows full well that if his successor fails, they will both be held accountable.”

There is another opinion, a special one: Putin will change the constitution. He will create some kind of Supreme Military Council or some kind of Security Council. Of course, he will appoint himself as its leader - in order to ensure his influence. “I cannot imagine a situation where he transfers all power to a successor; he doesn’t trust anyone,” says Mr. Haase.

Previously, Putin “did something similar,” the journalist notes. When his second presidential term ended in 2008, he moved to the post of prime minister, which he held during the “one-time” presidency of Dmitry Medvedev, while understanding that it was he (Putin) who remained the true leader of the country.

“Today we have Putin’s Russia,” says Mr. Pavlovsky. - If Putin leaves, Putin’s Russia must also leave. This is also a dangerous situation. His circle understands this and wants to preserve Putin’s Russia after he leaves.”

Therefore, “various factions” of Putin’s “court” will seek to persuade the president to name his heir who will best preserve the interests of the elite group. At the same time, “candidates” must be extremely careful not to turn out to be “an immediate threat to the president.” Anyone who is in too much of a hurry may be cleared out. In short, no one should “openly seek the title of heir.”

And yet it is obvious: there are signs of “Putin’s fatigue,” the journalist writes. And therefore, several of the toughest figures among the elite are starting open scandals. The case of Ulyukaev, who faces up to 10 years in a penal colony, stretches to Sechin, a “former military intelligence agent”: after all, Mr. Ulyukaev pleaded not guilty and accused Mr. Sechin of developing a “cloak and dagger” style operation. The former minister then warned the “Kremlin elite”: someone’s dossier could be next!

Besides Ulyukaev, Sechin appears intent on crushing AFK Sistema, a wealthy investment company that is being sued despite public warnings from Putin himself, the American journalist continues.

Finally, Sechin publicly promised to work with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Both are showing an increasing desire to “act independently of Putin.”

The topic of the aforementioned Supreme Military Council (or Security Council), which MacFarquhar spoke about, received an unexpected continuation in the Slovak press. It turns out that the Kremlin, through the special services, decided to take over Russian science.

As Marian Balazs writes on the portal Aktualne.sk (Slovakia), the Kremlin “has again encroached on freedom in Russia.” This time, “restrictions affected science and research,” the Slovak material quotes.

Since 1993, Russian scientists have been required to submit “all their research, scientific works and articles related, for example, to industry” to the intelligence services for approval. But recently Putin went further and changed the law on state secrets: its effect was expanded to all areas of science and research related to new products and discoveries. And now universities and research centers “must require their researchers to send their work to the intelligence services for approval.” For example, the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University has already drawn up for employees “instructions according to which all their works must undergo an approval procedure by the special services before presentations at conferences or publications in journals.”

A certain researcher at the “largest university in Russia” said that this is “a return to Soviet times, when in order to submit an article to an international journal you needed permission, which stated that the results were not new and not important, and therefore could be published abroad "

The new system works like this: before publishing a work in a journal or before a presentation, a scientist is required to request permission from the First Department of the FSB. A corresponding department has been opened “at every Russian university and research institute.”

This is “a complete degradation of academic and research freedom, the return of censorship and demotivation of the academic and scientific community,” concludes Marian Balazs. Where will Putin come with such ideas? After all, the Russian government wants five Russian universities to be among the top 100 universities in the world by 2020. But “the measures taken by Putin contradict such goals.” And what’s even worse is that “such steps appear to be aimed at eliminating critics of the Putin regime.” “If this or that researcher speaks critically about Putin and his policies, the intelligence services will not approve his research and, thus, will slow down his scientific career,” Balazs believes.

The topic of “tired Putin” was also touched upon by the Czech portal iDNES.cz, which was interviewed by British analyst Mark Galeotti.

In his opinion, Vladimir Putin will not necessarily serve out his new six-year term to the end.

“He needs a successor who will insure him,” the analyst quotes.

“Personally, I believe that Putin is tired,” the expert notes. - It is noticeable that in his public speeches he is no longer as energetic and full of enthusiasm as before. He began to spend less time in the Kremlin and participate less in the routine political process.” “He would be happy to leave if he could,” adds Galeotti. “But the problem is that if he does this, his position will become extremely vulnerable.” Even if tomorrow he signed a law stating that no former president can be tried, someone else could repeal this law. Therefore, Putin needs a successor who will insure him.” And if Putin manages to find a replacement for himself, then it is unlikely that he will “hold the post of president for all six years.”

So, foreign and at the same time Russian analysts have two versions of the history of the future.

1. Putin leaves after serving another six-year term in the Kremlin. Even while he was in office, an uncompromising struggle for power and influence began among representatives of Putin’s current “court.” In fact, the fight has already begun, and among the fighters in the forefront stands Mr. Sechin, who, due to his significant influence, is often mentioned by a variety of experts.

The Putin system, left without a clear heir, may break down, and Russia will face some new, unknown future.

2. Putin leaves his seat in the Kremlin ahead of schedule, without having served for six years, and, like Yeltsin, transfers his post to his chosen successor. A person he completely trusts.

In this case, the Putin system as a whole will remain, and the country will not face major changes. In this case, scientists will finally fall under the cap of the FSB and degrade: some European experts believe in this.

However, the question of a successor seems extremely dubious to almost all experts: after all, Putin “doesn’t trust anyone.”

FSB institutes are one of the most prestigious educational institutions that many high school students dream of enrolling in. After all, in addition to a quality education, you will receive a highly paid and qualified job. But to get into such a university, you must meet a number of criteria. Let's look at the main ones.

Which faculty should I go to?

FSB institutes today offer applicants a greater number of directions and specialties to choose from. Deciding which faculty is right for you is not easy right away.

It is worth noting that such education is often followed by followers of family traditions. Or those who dream of the romance of this profession and want to protect the interests of their state. In the future, such romantics, as a rule, create their own family traditions.

The highest passing grades are traditionally found in the investigative and counterintelligence faculties. It is most difficult to enroll in them without preliminary thorough preparation.

The situation is somewhat simpler at the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​and at the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics, which operates at the FSB Academy. This is where information security aces come from. Get ready right away: in order to have a real chance of entering the FSB Institute of Russia, it is advisable to know some rare language. For example, Hindi, Portuguese or Chinese. Fortunately, language courses are very popular today. In this case, your chances over competitors increase significantly.

Admission rules

If you decide to enroll in any FSB border institute, then be prepared for difficulties. The selection of applicants is carried out very carefully. Only every seventh of those who want to enroll make it to the decisive examination tests.

The first test is a medical examination. You need to have excellent health, because studying at such a university requires physical training. Training and physical tests await students almost every day. They approach this issue very strictly. This is the case when connections will not help. After all, if later one of the students turns out to be unprepared for serious physical activity, they will ask the doctors.

The third test is a test of physical readiness. The standards are serious: you need to pull yourself up 11 times without shortness of breath, run 100 meters in no more than 13.5 seconds, and cover a distance of 3 kilometers in a maximum of 12 minutes.

Passing all these tests is not easy. Therefore, it is better to take good advice - enroll in preliminary courses, which are now organized by FSB institutes. On them, the future applicant will understand what the requirements will be and whether he is ready for the exams.

Entrance exams

The final tests of knowledge that you have to pass in order to enter the FSB institutes are almost identical. First of all, you need to provide a list of documents. This is an order from a security authority, a birth certificate, a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, a military ID or a document replacing it, a compulsory health insurance policy, a certificate of secondary education and a university graduate diploma (if any). You must have sportswear with you.

The Golitsyn Institute of the FSB of Russia accepts as an entrance exam the results of the Unified State Examination taken at school, as well as the results of additional exams that you will take directly at the institute. They will differ depending on which faculty you choose.

The results of the Unified State Exam will be counted for applicants entering the specialty “border activities”. The results of exams in the Russian language, social studies and history are suitable for those who wish to study in the field of legal support of national security. For applicants to the Faculty of Psychology of Professional Activities, excellent scores in mathematics and the Russian language are required.

Additionally, those applicants to study to become border guards will have to pass history and physical training, and those who go to study to become psychologists will have to pass biology and physical training, while those wishing to obtain a legal education will have to take the results of the social studies exam.

The difference between additional exams and school exams and the Unified State Examination is that these exams are considered tests of increased complexity. Here they will test not only the level of your knowledge, but also how you can cope with non-standard situations and quickly find solutions to unexpected problems.

About entrance examinations for individual faculties

At the Faculty of Investigation - social studies and Russian language. At the Faculty of Counterintelligence, a written exam in a foreign language is added to them.

At the Faculty of Foreign Languages, in addition to the written exam in Russian, you will have to complete written and oral assignments in the language you are studying.

Education

Already from the first year, a student who entered the Moscow FSB Institute feels that he has entered the system. Almost all steps and actions will be outlined and strictly regulated. Moreover, you clearly know what you will be doing for the next ten years. First, get an education for five years, and then pay off the debt for it. After all, you were trained on a budget basis. 5 years is the minimum period that you must work in the state security agencies after graduating from university.

Students will have to master a high level of training in almost all subjects: foreign languages, mathematics, law - and at the same time show excellent physical indicators. Among the teachers there are many professors, as well as holders of the titles of Hero of Russia and even Hero of the Soviet Union.

Much of what they teach is classified as "secret". Therefore, it is often impossible to take anything out of the classrooms in which classes are held. Right down to the handle.

Special attention is paid to legal training. The lectures are rich and informative. Sometimes you have to write 30-40 pages of notes in one academic hour.

Scholarship

A scholarship is provided if the applicant comes to study at the Border Guard Institute of the FSB of Russia. Admission is over, it’s time to devote yourself entirely to your studies. Therefore, financial support will not hurt.

Compared to other universities, scholarships here are much higher. They amount to about 15 thousand rubles. However, we should not forget that students at these universities do not just study, but are on duty almost around the clock, which is difficult and exhausting.

Features of studying at the FSB Institute

Perhaps the main feature of studying this at a university is that it is not customary to talk about it, especially on social networks.

Another distinctive feature is that the training is so unifying, and the system itself is so closed, that many find their soul mates here.

After graduating from university, you need to serve in the authorities for at least five years. Moreover, people from the capital are often sent to work in the regions. For example, to Volgograd or Krasnodar. If an employee manages to prove himself, he may be returned to Moscow or promoted to his place of duty.

The main thing is that they often find true friends here, who subsequently support them throughout their lives and provide the necessary assistance.

Employment issues

After the five mandatory years of service in the authorities have passed, everyone’s future fate develops differently. Some remain in the Federal Security Service in federal or regional departments. Others move on to the Alpha special forces detachment, where graduates of FSB universities are always welcomed with open arms.

Others go into the civil service and specialize in matters related to jurisprudence. After all, training in this area is one of the strongest in the country. It is quite possible to become a successful lawyer or prosecutor, and in the future, count on getting a position as a judge.

Almost no one experiences problems with finding a job, since people with a diploma from the FSB Institute are hired almost everywhere, often even without an interview.

Order of the FSB of the Russian Federation dated September 18, 2008 N 464
"On approval of the Regulations of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation"

With changes and additions from:

1. Approve the attached Regulations of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

2. Control over the implementation of the Regulations approved by this order shall be entrusted to the Deputy Directors of the FSB of Russia and heads of services of the FSB of Russia insofar as it concerns.

Director

A. Bortnikov

Registration No. 12394

General rules have been established for the internal organization of the FSB of Russia in the exercise of functions in the established field of activity, including the structure and staffing of the central office, the powers of the Director of the Service and his deputies, rules for document flow, the procedure for legislative activity, execution of orders, consideration of requests and appeals, reception of citizens, creation of coordination and advisory bodies, working groups, etc.

The FSB of Russia exercises public administration in the field of ensuring the security of the Russian Federation, combating terrorism, protecting and guarding the state border of the Russian Federation, protecting internal sea waters, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, the continental shelf of the Russian Federation and their natural resources, ensuring information security of the Russian Federation, and also coordinating counterintelligence activities of authorized federal executive bodies.

The activities of the FSB of Russia are led by the President of the Russian Federation.

Order of the FSB of the Russian Federation dated September 18, 2008 N 464 “On approval of the Regulations of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation”

Registration No. 12394

This order comes into force 10 days after the day of its official publication

This document is amended by the following documents:

Changes take effect 10 days after the date

About how he was called to the FSB in the Tyumen region to “feel out” what kind of bird he was. I will probably seem old-fashioned, but if I were him, I would not go to the meeting, especially since he was summoned not by summons, but by telephone call, in violation of procedural norms. Over the past three years, the FSB contacted me three times, of which the meeting took place only once and absolutely spontaneously. Twice I ignored them, demanding strict adherence to procedural norms, which made them instantly lose all interest. Let me first tell you why you should NOT take the initiative and go to meetings with these people, and then I will tell you what these people wanted from me.

According to the old Soviet habit, people perceive the FSB as an analogue of the KGB, where a group of thugs in a cop basement will beat you with rubber batons wrapped in a wet towel and threaten that if you do not admit that you are an enemy of Russia, then they will plant heroin on you and you will be trampled for the rest of your life. zone. In addition, the people are convinced of the absolute limitlessness of this structure, the untold wealth of its employees (otherwise, so many people were given heroin, and their apartments and businesses were allegedly seized), constant black glasses and immense power. This is the image that the FSB has among the people. So, this is complete bullshit and has no connection with reality. In fact, the FSB is a regular police-type structure, but with slightly more expanded powers. Like the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the structure suffers from a lack of qualified personnel willing to do serious work for a relatively low salary. As a result, they have more illiterate employees in their ranks than is acceptable.

These people often take advantage of the unfounded fear of many fellow citizens of the magic word “FSB” and make their work easier. In order to summon a person, they are required to comply with a number of formalities, and the summoned citizen receives certain rights. The summons indicates the reason for the call, the time for which you were called, the name of the person calling, and the consequences of failure to appear. In addition, the summons implies the obligation to pay the summoned person the cost of travel to the meeting place and compensation for the lost day of work. Instead, they call from a blocked phone number and invite you to a meeting. Who's calling you? Is it really the FSB, or was your friend playing a joke on you?

So, I was first invited to the FSB in 2012. When I was visiting Yekaterinburg. They called on the phone. How did they find out the number? I bought a SIM card for my passport, so they figured it out. The conversation was very short. I asked to send a summons. The person on the other end of the line hesitates, saying that all this is very long, but the conversation is urgent. He replied that I personally am not in a hurry, send me a summons. They ask, where should I send them, since I have not had registration at my place of residence in Russia since 2007? I answer that I am registered at the Russian consulate in Israel, send a summons there and send plane tickets there - I will not fly at my own expense. The man laughs, saying, what’s the problem, you’re in Yekaterinburg now, why are you complicating everything? I answer, dear, send a summons. And I interrupt the conversation. They didn't call again.

The second time they “wanted” me was in 2013. First, one of my old readers wrote to LiveJournal privately and said that it would be “correct and reasonable” for me to communicate with the FSB if possible. He assured that no one was going to arrest or detain me, but simply (quote): “You are a fairly popular blogger and we want to get to know you and understand what kind of person you are. This is a common procedure, many of your fellow bloggers have gone through it and everything is fine, no one is in prison." I am writing in response that I see no reason to prevent me from being invited by summons. He writes in response that such meetings are unofficial and are not related to the conduct of a criminal case or investigation. Therefore, subpoenaing is problematic. I answer that in this case the meeting is impossible. He wrote something like “We are not your enemies, you need to calm down.” My friend didn’t write anything else to me. This correspondence roughly coincided with one unpleasant story, when I almost became a victim of the maniac Fedorovich, so there was no question of any unofficial meetings with strangers.

The third time the meeting took place in the summer of 2014, in Yekaterinburg. Nobody called me, no one called me. I went to meet a friend, we met in the center, next to the house where Yeltsin lived and there is a corresponding memorial plaque there. We took a walk along the Iset embankment. And then my friend “turned me over” to the FSB. Two men came up, said hello, and shook hands. The friend hesitated and threw out some bullshit like “...also readers of the blog.” The men were interested in the frequency and purpose of my trips to Ukraine and the presence of certain friends related to Ukraine on my Facebook. I asked them to introduce themselves and show their official IDs unfolded. And they showed their IDs, it really says FSB of Russia. After that, they asked me to show my passport myself. I show my passport, they look at it carefully and leaf through it. Then they returned it back. I answered them that the topic of Ukraine is interesting to me in the context of the fact that I am interested in geopolitics, history, and, among other things, I am involved in obtaining Ukrainian citizenship. They grinned, “Yes, yes, but they never gave it to you.” They prepared well for the meeting. They asked if I personally knew certain people. No, I don't know. But is he friended on Facebook? Maybe. I have thousands of people as friends, of whom I personally know about two dozen.

We walked with them around the center of Yekaterinburg for an hour and a half. What was the conversation about? Honestly, nothing of value. They asked how my litigation with the Israeli special services ended (meaning my arrest in Israel on suspicion of visiting enemy Syria and Lebanon) and I answered that, as in Russia, there is no use in suing the Shabak (analogue of the FSB). They smile, “Well, in Russia it’s not completely useless.” True, they could not remember at least one positive precedent. Then they agreed that it was not necessary from a formal point of view to attend the meeting when called, and I was right in refusing to meet a year earlier. Is my file closed now? They replied that despite my exceptional sociability and formal openness, they did not feel absolute frankness in me and felt that there was a “wall” between us. Actually, that's all.

Who is cooler: Mossad or FSB?

To be fair, the correct question would be “Shabak, or FSB,” because in Israel this structure is the analogue of the FSB. It's hard for me to judge. I communicated with the FSB once in my life, and with Shabak many times. In addition, Shabak had specific suspicions about me about visiting enemy countries and they wanted to make sure that I was not collaborating with any terrorist organizations. In the case of the FSB, I think they are simply assessing how much this or that public person is ready to cooperate, that is, without any accusations of anything. The Shabak in Israel itself does not have the power to detain suspects; it is not a power structure, but rather an analytical one. In Russia, the FSB is quite a security force. On the other hand, the formal “toothlessness” of the Shabak is compensated by their absolute power, and if the Shabak investigator wants to detain you, the arrest will formally be formalized by the police and the latter has no right to vote at all, it is ordered to detain you - they will detain you. The same parsley, only in profile.

One more nuance: in Israel there is no need to “plant heroin on you” in order to detain you until the investigation is completed. Since 1948, the country has not repealed the martial law, which gives the intelligence services unlimited powers. The court will almost automatically extend your detention if Shabak recommends doing so and declares that you pose a danger to the state. Moreover, it is not necessary to prove in court why exactly you are dangerous for Israel; the judge will give you a couple of weeks (or even a month) based on just one “recommendation”.

Since not all readers have a Livejournal account, I duplicate all my articles about life and travel on social networks, so join:
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In October 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, a well-known Russian journalist who has published more than one book in many languages, an uncompromising critic of the Russian government, Russian policy in Chechnya, the Russian army in Chechnya and President Putin as the head of state who allows crimes to be committed, was killed in the entrance of her house. Crimes in Chechnya. It was natural to assume that the murder of Politkovskaya was primarily related to some pro-Kremlin Chechen leaders, for example, the current President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who was then just negotiating with Putin to become president, bypassing the constitution of the Chechen Republic (formally, Ramzan Kadyrov was too young to his occupation of this position, he was born in 1976). It was appropriate, quite in the Eastern tradition, to give Putin a gift, to do something nice for him. On Putin’s next birthday, in keeping with the best Eastern traditions, this gift was presented to Putin: the head of a killed enemy. On Putin's birthday, October 7, 2006, Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated. In the form of a gift.

Those who killed Politkovskaya had a choice. They could have killed her on October 5th or the 8th. But they knew that Putin would like the gift they gave. And obviously he liked the gift. On March 2, 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov became president of the Chechen Republic.

We began writing a biography of Putin in 2003. As often happens, we did not plan to complete this book in the coming years; we wanted to wait for Putin to leave power in order to consider the period of his rule over. But at the end of May 2007, the Federal Security Service of Russia (the successor to the KGB) searched the apartment of Vladimir Pribylovsky, who lives in Moscow, and confiscated all his computers, materials, and our correspondence. If our book is confiscated and read by the FSB without our consent, do we have the right to deprive the ordinary reader of the opportunity to familiarize the average reader with its contents?

The past twentieth century has gone down in history as the century of tyrants. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Zedong... Small and large, absolute and moderate, communist and nationalist, they brought incredible evil to their victims and provided ample ground for numerous studies. Having become accustomed to resorting to analogies, we are still trying to fit the new phenomena that we encounter into known old ones. In relation to Putin, we want to answer the question of whether he is a despot or not; whether it will recreate some semblance of the old Soviet Union; Will the world witness a new cold or even nuclear war?

Meanwhile, we are dealing with another experiment in Russia, which this time is being carried out not by the Communist Party, but by the FSB. The goal of the experiment is to gain absolute control over Russia. For the sake of unlimited power, which gives access to unlimited money, which, in turn, gives the opportunity for unlimited power. In the Soviet Union, everyone was poor, even members of the ruling nomenklatura. Stalin and Brezhnev had power, but no money. Their apartments, cars, and dachas belonged to the state. They did not have yachts or planes and could not go on holiday abroad. They did not appoint their children to the boards of directors of the largest Russian corporations. Members of the new ruling corporation - the FSB - want power and money for themselves and their children and close relatives. You don't have to look far for examples. The son of former prime minister (and future head of the Foreign Intelligence Service) Mikhail Fradkov sits on the board of directors of the state-owned Vnesheconombank. Former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev arranged for his son Andrei to become an adviser to the head of Rosneft. The youngest son of Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov ended up as deputy president of Gazprombank.

Putin himself also represents a completely new phenomenon that humanity has never yet encountered. All the dictators we know were self-nominated. At the risk of their lives, they seized power and with even greater difficulty retained it, most often dying, like Trotsky, Hitler, Mussolini and Ceausescu... Less often, dying a natural death, like Franco, Mao, Tito and Pinochet. In some cases, it is still not entirely clear to us whether the dictator died a natural death or was killed by competitors (Lenin and Stalin).

Putin did not make his way to the presidency. He was selected by the Russian Federal Security Service. It was this structure, often called the “office” by the FSB officers themselves, that secured President Yeltsin and the Russian oligarchs’ approval of his candidacy as a successor.

Putin's biographer can't help but catch himself thinking that writing about him is boring. Putin seems like a dull little man, neither bright nor charismatic. He has no self. He does not crave power and does not enjoy it. Rather, he seems like an obedient toy in someone's hands. The oligarchs who helped Putin become president believed that these hands were theirs. But it turned out that the hands directed by Putin belonged to a completely different department - the “office”. And these hands installed Putin as president precisely because they were not looking for a bright, charismatic, independent person. Because an extraordinary person can fall in love with power and want to become a dictator. And dictators, as you know, always kill, and they start with those who are nearby, who brought them to power, with their comrades, comrades-in-arms and colleagues. Stalin's experience in this sense turned out to be very instructive. Not only new businessmen, but also old secret services do not want a new Stalin. Gray Putin suits everyone.

Under Soviet rule, the country was led by a political party armed with communist ideology. Under Putin, the numerous political parties that make up the Russian parliament (State Duma) are weak. This is no coincidence. The FSB does not need a strong political party, since a powerful political party will inevitably become a competitor for power and, by definition, can pose a threat to the FSB. The same can be said about the Duma - weak, disunited and controlled by the president; and about the missing ideology, in which the FSB is also not interested, since any ideology sooner or later leads to the creation of a political party, and a political party is called political because it strives for power (which in the case of Russia will need to be taken away from the FSB).

One of the features of the FSB as a system is the eternal desire to control everything and everyone. Control at the individual level is difficult, if not impossible. Easier to control groups. The active part of the country's adult population is one way or another gathered into groups, and all these groups (businesses, non-governmental organizations, political parties) are embedded with FSB personnel, who notify their organization about everything that is happening. It's more difficult with young people. It is difficult to gather into groups, difficult to control and certainly difficult to infiltrate, since FSB employees, agents and informants are, as a rule, adults. Here, of course, both the old Soviet experience and new ingenuity help. The FSB has been successfully nurturing various youth organizations from a very early stage. Those of them that are gaining strength, like the Nashi movement, are taken under full control and connected to the apparatus of strengthening power. A controlled organization, of course, is not capable of becoming a competitor to power.

Today it is obvious that the operation “Successor” carried out by the FSB - to install Putin as President of Russia - will have its continuation. The FSB plans to create a clone of Putin, the same as Putin, only different, who will also rule Russia on behalf of and on behalf of the FSB for the next 4-8 years. In place of Putin, who simply had to leave in 2008 so as not to become the second Stalin, the FSB corporation chose another gray person for whom the FSB is higher than his own “I”.

In the modern world, the FSB thinks and acts like a corporation. She prefers to subjugate or buy rather than kill. Nevertheless, the FSB is an organization of murderers. And if she believes that she must protect herself from an impending danger, and she can no longer control this danger, she kills. It was for this reason that Anna Politkovskaya and Alexander Litvinenko were killed. They posed a serious danger to the FSB corporation and could not be taken under control or purchased.

To be fair, it should be said that the system of corporate governance was conceived and created not by the FSB, but by the oligarchs. In June 1996, Yeltsin, who, as everyone thought, had no chance of being democratically re-elected president, was inclined to declare a state of emergency in the country, cancel the elections, and thus prevent the victory of the Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov in the elections and remain hostage to supporters of a forceful solution to the issue - head of the presidential security service Alexander Korzhakov, director of state security Mikhail Barsukov and their partner in power, Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets. This was the second (after the unsuccessful August 1991 putsch) clumsy attempt by the Russian special services to seize power in Russia. But this attempt was unsuccessful.

In the hours when the presidential decree on canceling the elections and introducing a state of emergency in the country had already been signed, one of the power corporations in Russia - the corporation of oligarchs - offered Yeltsin money, newspapers and television controlled by the oligarchs, numerous managers hired by them, ready to organize Yeltsin's election campaign, but with the condition that Yeltsin refuses to solve the problem by force, withdraws the already signed decree canceling the elections and introducing a state of emergency in the country, dismisses Korzhakov, Barsukov, Soskovets and holds democratic elections. Yeltsin listened to the members of the oligarch corporation, accepted their help, entered into a formally fair fight with Zyuganov and won. Of course, critics argued that Yeltsin’s victory was not fair, that the newspapers and television bought by the oligarchs played on Yeltsin’s side. But no one had any particular pity for the communists. The recent events of August 1991 and October 1993, which were considered by the population as attempts at communist revenge, were too memorable.

In July 1996, Yeltsin was re-elected president. But this victory had its price. The shares of power were received by a corporation of oligarchs. For the next four years, until the 2000 elections, this corporation ruled the country. Yeltsin was the president of this corporation. Surrounded by intelligence agencies on all sides, bickering and competing with each other, inexperienced in politics (in which everyone in democratic Russia was inexperienced), despising the people, not believing in democracy in general and in Russian democracy in particular, the corporation of oligarchs came to the conclusion that In the 2000 presidential elections, the head of the intelligence service should be elected president. For some reason, it was believed that the oligarchs could easily control and buy this leader.

Each oligarch had by 1999-2000. there was a respectable, proven intelligence officer. And each intelligence officer has his own proven oligarch. Roman Abramovich, Boris Berezovsky and Anatoly Chubais had Colonel Vladimir Putin, director of the FSB. Vladimir Gusinsky has the first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Army General Filipp Bobkov. Yuri Luzhkov has First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Director of the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia Yevgeny Primakov. Mikhail Khodorkovsky has KGB General Alexei Kondaurov... Oligarchs and special services close to Yeltsin explained to the president that the only one who can guarantee the personal integrity of Yeltsin and his family after Yeltsin leaves power is the former head of the FSB. It doesn’t matter which former leader (here Yeltsin was given a choice), but definitely the former head of the FSB. Because if the communists come to power, they will imprison Yeltsin for dispersing parliament with tanks in October 1993; if the democrats are for the start of the first and second Chechen wars and for the genocide of the Chechen people; and whoever comes to power will certainly try to imprison Yeltsin and members of his family for the privatization carried out in Russia and the large-scale corruption that followed.

Yeltsin believed, and with his own hands, the same ones that wrested power from the communists in August 1991, he transferred control of Russia to the head of the FSB as his successor. Over the course of a year, he tried three people for the role of successor. The first candidate for the post of future President of Russia was Yevgeny Primakov. He was appointed prime minister in August 1998, but was fired in May 1999 because he did not suit the oligarchs, since he openly promised after his victory to release 90 thousand criminals from prison and put 90 thousand businessmen in the vacated cells. The next presidential candidate was Sergei Stepashin, director of the FSB in 1994-1995. He did not suit Yeltsin’s “family,” or rather its individual representatives: oligarch Roman Abramovich, presidential adviser and future son-in-law of the president Valentin Yumashev, and head of the presidential administration Alexander Voloshin. It seemed to them that Stepashin was going over to the side of Yeltsin’s rival for power in the country, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. In August 1999, Stepashin was removed. Putin, who until then was the director of the FSB, was appointed in his place. Both Yeltsin and the oligarchs liked Putin. It was he who was selected on December 31, 1999 to be Yeltsin’s successor, the next president of Russia.

The oligarchs (with the exception of Vladimir Gusinsky, who bet on the wrong horse) believed that their corporation was still in power. In the end, it was they who unanimously supported Putin and put at his disposal during the election campaign the same mechanisms and the same managers who ensured Yeltsin’s victory in the 1996 elections. But there was another corporation that, unnoticed by the public, supported Putin and ensured his victory on their own and using their own methods: FSB Corporation. And Putin’s first steps as president were distinguished by emphasized loyalty to members of both corporations.

Gradually, however, the balance of power changed in favor of the FSB. First, the empire of Gusinsky and the empire of Berezovsky, who went over to the opposition to Putin, were destroyed, and Gusinsky and Berezovsky found themselves in exile abroad. Then the empire of Mikhail Khodorkovsky was destroyed, and Khodorkovsky himself was arrested and sentenced. At the same time, a number of elected regional positions were replaced by those appointed by the president. In corrupt Russia, where corruption especially flourished in local elections, the abolition of regional elections and the introduction of positions appointed by the presidential administration seemed to many to be correct and acceptable. But to all vacant positions, as well as to all more or less important government and political posts, Putin began to appoint KGB-FSB officers.

Not everyone immediately understood what was happening. And when they realized, it was too late. From 70 to 80 percent of all senior positions in the state were captured by the intelligence services and the military. For the first time in history, power in the state was gained by the FSB, that is, people who had served their entire adult lives in the KGB-FSB system, who hated America and Western Europe, and who had no positive program and construction experience; accustomed only to destroy, control, subjugate and kill. As about smoking and cancer, as about the Gestapo in Nazi Germany, about the FSB, in defense of this structure, not a single kind word can be said. The FSB is an absolute evil, which, due to a pure historical misunderstanding, was not destroyed in August 1991.

Ironically, statesmen often go down in history for events that they themselves probably considered petty and unworthy of mention. We know that President Putin will be remembered in Britain as the man who poisoned his political opponent in central London with a homemade atomic bomb containing radioactive polonium. The rest will be forgotten.