On June 11, 2020, the Dossier Center, an organization funded by the exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, published an extensive study of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) entitled “The Lubyanka Federation: How the FSB Determines Russia’s Politics and Economy.” This is the most thoroughly researched study of the FSB activities available at this time.
The tenor of the study is
very critical. Its basic conclusion is that the “Lubyanka Federation” (named
after the long-time Soviet and Russian state security headquarters) has become
more powerful than the Russian Federation. In other words, the fate of the
Russian Federation now depends on the outcome of the factional battles between various
FSB directorates competing for power and resources.
The study portrays the bleak and brutal criminalized world where the bigger fish – and what makes them big is the nodding approval of the Russian president Vladimir Putin – swallows up the smaller fish without mercy.
The study is available in Russian at https://fsb.dossier.center/. Below is my English translation of the study’s main conclusions:
“1. The influence of the FSB on the political and economic spheres [of Russian life] has exceeded the constitutional powers granted to the service.
2. The president of Russia, to whom the FSB is directly subordinated, directs it not only through the FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, but also through the representatives of other directorates within the service. In this way, the multi-level system of control over the FSB is established.
3. At the same time, the president relies more and more on the information he receives from the FSB. The associates and representatives of the FSB, who have a direct access to the president, often use this to advance their own commercial and factional interests.
4. In addition to the president, the following members of his closest circle have a substantial influence over the FSB activities: Nikolai Patrushev (the head of the Security Council), Igor Sechin (the head of Rosneft), Sergei Chemezov (the head of Rostekh), Viktor Zubkov (the chairman of the board of Gazprom), Sergei Ivanov (a member of the Security Council), etc. They have set up their own factions within the FSB which work to advance their economic interests and provide security and information to make sure that their private schemes come to fruition.
5. During the last 10 years, the FSB has put under its control almost all government institutions primarily by the use of force. The Ministry of Defense, the Investigative Committee, the State Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Interior and other institutions have become dependent on the FSB. In addition to that, the representatives of the FSB regularly influence judicial decisions, thus violating the principle of judicial independence. This outcome creates a disbalance in the government’s functioning and threatens the security of the state.
6. The methods used by the FSB often violate people’s constitutional rights and involve the practices from the worst days of the KGB. The officers of the FSB and the employees of other government institutions dependent on them infringe on the freedom of speech, falsify criminal investigations, take part in predatory behavior, use torture and, in addition to that, participate in the assassinations of the individuals who are not to the liking of the Kremlin on the territory of Russia and beyond its borders.
7. The representatives of the FSB participate in corrupt activities in a systemic way and often organize and direct the activities which they are supposed to fight against – especially with regard to the banking sector. In reality, almost the entire field of illegal banking operations is under the direct control of the FSB and brings substantial profits to the particular factions and the representatives of their ‘clans.’
8. In addition to systemic corruption, the FSB is also affected by non-systemic corruption. In other words, inspired by the example of their superiors, the middle and low-ranking officers use their positions to gain extra profit on their own.
9. The FSB performs the functions of a repressive apparatus directed against the oppositionally-minded citizens, the businessmen, officials, or siloviks who are, for this or that reason, not to the liking of the Kremlin or the other high-level government officials or ‘clans.’”
