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The KGB (КГБ) or “Committee for State Security” (Russian: Комите́т Госуда́рственной Безопа́сности, English: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) was the name for the main Soviet Union intelligence agency between 1954 and 1991. It was preceded by the Ministry for State Security (MVD) and later became the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
More than just a Russian equivalent of the CIA, the KGB covered a wide suite of responsibilities and roles analogous to the CIA, NSA, FBI, Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Bureau of Customs and Border Control combined. It is through this vast network of intelligence and surveillance that the KGB could exert power over the 293 million citizens in the 15 Soviet Republics that made up the USSR.
History[]
It is housed in the Lubyanka building in Lubyanka Square, Moscow, the KGB’s headquarters. The Lubyanka building is most likely the home of what is described on the show as “The Center,” the true core at the heart of the Soviet’s intelligence network.
Seized by the Cheka following the October Revolution of 1917, the structure has been the traditional home of Russian intelligence since. Despite the Russian intelligence service changing names and structure many times, it has maintained its headquarters in the Lubyanka building.
The basements also housed an infamous prison used to hold, torture and execute many prisoners, dissidents and enemies.
Rezidentura[]
The Rezidentura is part of the Russian embassy located in a foreign country which acts as a hub for all of the KGB’s relevant interests and activities within that host country, while also providing a global network through which to move physical items (people, documents, weapons, etc.). Embassies are a perfect cover for intelligence services due to the diplomatic immunity afforded to consular staff, the worst punishment being declared persona non grata (lit. "person not welcome") and returned to their home country.
The person in charge of the Rezidentura is called the Rezident. Rezidenturas will usually contain a mixture of intelligence personnel from across the range of lines/directorates in order that any emergency can be handled by experienced officers. For instance, Oleg and Tatiana worked together when Martha needed exfiltration to Moscow.
Rezidents that have appeared on the show:
Vasili Nikolaevich | Forced repatriation following him being set up by Nina |
Arkady | Former head of security, promoted follow Vasili's return to Russia |
Rezident (Season Six) | The Rezident during Season Six is not named, but shown briefly interacting with Tatiana |
Directorates / Lines[]
While the KGB's intelligence service appears as one single entity, it is variously categorized into sub-divisions called Directorates or Lines with each "Directorate" (referred to internally as a "Line") having a specific purpose.
Known Directorates referenced on the show:
S | Illegal Intelligence | Illegal surveilance, illegal agents, international sabotage, biological intelligence |
KR | Security [1] | Intelligence gathered from sources inside of foreign intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI, Mossad, ISI, NIS, etc.) |
N | Illegal Support[2] | Support for KGB illegals. Gabriel, Kate and Claudia would report and react to this line. |
X | Science & Technology | Intelligence related to scientific and technological advances. |
The main focus of the show is on Directorate S, though there appears to be communication between the different Lines (after the Emmett & Leanne murders, Arkady is shown telling Nina to organize Lines KR, N and Security in the vault).
Operations[]
Known operations that have been instigated by the KGB:
CHRISTOPHER | KGB emergency plan for complete breakdown in the US. A guerrilla warfare campaign. In real-life is known as "Day X"[2] |
CHRONICLE | Plan to have FBI Agent Stan Beeman provide the KGB with the ECHO program. |
ZEPHYR | Transcription and review of all recordings obtained by the bugged FBI Mail Robot. |
SVR Organization[]
Russia's External Intelligence Service (SVR) is the current incarnation of one of the world's oldest and most extensive espionage agencies, known for decades as the KGB.
It officially celebrates its 100th birthday in 2020, tracing its lineage back to the Soviet Union's NKVD Foreign Department, set up on 20 December 1920.
The KGB (Committee of State Security) moniker surfaced in the 1950s, when it was officially known as the KGB's First Main Directorate, to distinguish it from the domestic secret police.
The SVR's closeness to the Kremlin, external is underlined by the fact that its current director, Mikhail Fradkov, and one of his predecessors, Yevgeny Primakov, both served as prime ministers of Russia.
But it is the current Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, who is undoubtedly the service's best-known graduate, having served as an agent in East Germany, external in the 1980s.
Today the SVR describes itself as a "modern special service employing talented, ambitious people devoted to the Motherland and their military duty".
According to a recent German government report on the service and its latter-day German operations - a report which caused indignation in Moscow - the SVR currently has 13,000 employees.
If allegations are proven that the SVR built up an extensive ring of spies in the US in the first decade of the 21st Century, it would be only the latest in a line of such operations, stretching back to at least the 1940s when the famous Soviet spy Rudolf Abel went operational in Brooklyn. See Illegals Program
Structure[]
Headquartered in Moscow, the SVR has offices in Russian embassies, consulates and trade establishments throughout the world. In accordance with the law "On foreign intelligence", adopted in December 1995, today's organizational structure SVR Russia includes: operational; analytical; functional units (management, service, independent departments).
As with its predecessor, the First Chief Directorate of the KGB, it is likely that the SVR continues to be composed of three separate Directorates, and three Services:
- Directorate S, which is responsible for illegal agents (those under deep cover) throughout the world;
- Directorate T, responsible for the collection of scientific and technological intelligence; and
- Directorate K, which carries out infiltration of foreign intelligence and security services and exercises surveillance over Russian citizens abroad.
- Service I, which analyzes and distributes intelligence collected by SVR foreign intelligence officers and agents, publishes a daily current events summaries for the Politburo, and make assessments of future world developments;
- Service A, which is responsible for planning and implementing active measures; and
- Service R, which evaluates SVR operations abroad.
- The Foreign Intelliegence Academy is the main training establishment for the SVR.
The operational core of the SVR is eleven geographical departments, which supervises SVR employees assigned to residencies abroad. These officers, or rezidenty, operate under legal cover, engaging in intelligence collection, espionage, and active measures. Although SVR personnel frequently use diplomatic cover when assigned abroad, the SVR frequently uses journalists for cadre work, and many SVR intelligence officers consider it one of the best covers.
Trivia[]
You got me going down a rabbit hole, though, and I found this nifty little article: KGB AFTER THE BREAK UP OF SOVIET UNION | Facts and Details