FSB: Anatomy of Russia’s Security State offers a comprehensive examination of one of the most powerful institutions of contemporary Russia.
More than simply the successor to the Soviet KGB, the Federal Security Service occupies a unique position within the Russian system of power. It combines counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigation, surveillance, information and economic security, military counterintelligence, border protection, and coercive powers. It has also become deeply intertwined with the protection of Russia’s political order and Vladimir Putin’s system of government.
Renato Caputo and Mark A. Randol trace the development of the FSB from the origins of Russian political policing through the Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKVD, and KGB to the security apparatus of the Russian Federation. The book examines what survived across different political systems: professional cultures, concepts of the enemy, surveillance and coercion, and the enduring Chekist conception of state security.
The study reconstructs the rise of the FSB under Vladimir Putin, its legal foundations, structure, leadership, specialized units, and expanding responsibilities. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between state security and regime security. The authors show how counterespionage and counterterrorism coexist with political policing, repression of dissent, intimidation, and the progressive restriction of political and civil space. Read more
