MOSCOW, July 21 — The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, known by its Russian acronym FSB, remains the principal security agency of the country and the main institutional successor to the Soviet-era KGB. Its immediate predecessor, the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), was reorganized into the FSB in 1995, cementing the agency as the domestic pillar of Russia’s post-Soviet intelligence apparatus. Under the Federal Law ‘On the Federal Security Service’ signed by President Boris Yeltsin on 3 April 1995, the FSB was formally established.
The reforms were rounded out by decree No. 633 signed by Yeltsin on 23 June 1995, which made the FSB’s tasks more specific, granted substantial rights to conduct cryptographic work, and described the powers of the FSB director. Colonel-General Mikhail Ivanovich Barsukov was appointed the first director of the FSB.
In 1998, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin, a KGB veteran who would later succeed Yeltsin as federal president, to head the agency.
Origins and Evolution
The chain of Russian security agencies traces back to the dismantling of the KGB after the attempted coup of 1991. The KGB ceased to exist from November 1991. In December 1991, President Yeltsin issued decrees creating two new government agencies answerable to the Russian president on the basis of relevant main directorates of the defunct KGB: the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Agency of Government Communication and Information (FAPSI).
The Ministry of Security took over domestic and border security responsibilities in January 1992. Following the 1993 constitutional crisis, that ministry was reorganized on 21 December 1993 into the Federal Counter-Intelligence Service (FSK), headed by Sergei Stepashin.
Before the start of the First Chechen War’s main military activities, the FSK was responsible for covert operations against separatists led by Dzhokhar Dudayev. The three major structural successor components of the former KGB that remain administratively independent of the FSB are the SVR, the Federal Protective Service (FSO), and the Main Directorate of Special Programs of the President of the Russian Federation (GUSP).
The historical record shows that in 1992, the SVR signed an agreement not to spy on countries that were once members of the Soviet Union; the FSB, by contrast, made no such commitment.
Mission and Structure
The primary responsibilities of the FSB are within the country and include counterintelligence, internal and border security, counterterrorism, surveillance, and investigating some other types of serious crimes and federal law violations. The FSB is headquartered in Lubyanka Square, Moscow’s center, in the main building of the former KGB. The director of the FSB is appointed by and directly answerable to the president of Russia.
Although formally part of Russia’s executive branch, the agency has significant, if not decisive, power over it. In 2003, the FSB’s responsibilities were expanded by incorporating the Border Guard Service and a major part of the former FAPSI.
This expansion included intelligence activities in countries that were once members of the Soviet Union, work formerly done by the KGB’s Fifth Service. The decree from 1995 also increased the number of deputy directors to eight: two first deputies, five deputies responsible for departments and directorates, and one deputy director heading the Moscow City and Moscow regional directorate. As of July 2026, the FSB remains the centerpiece of Russia’s internal security architecture, with its powers and reach continuing to draw attention from Western intelligence analysts.
Observers watch how the agency’s historical focus on counterintelligence and border security intersects with the Kremlin’s broader strategic posture in international conflicts.
Sources
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