The FSO was formed based on the Ninth Directorate of the KGB, which was responsible for leadership security. Splitting this function from the rest of the KGB became an obvious imperative after Gorbachev’s security service participated in his isolation during the August 1991 coup attempt. The FSO protects the president and his family, other top officials, visiting dignitaries, and key government buildings and installations. The FSO is believed to possess two military regiments and one brigade, including the famous Presidential (formerly Kremlin) Regiment. Estimates of the FSO’s size vary widely.90
The FSO also includes the Presidential Security Service (SBP), which from 1993 to 1996 was a powerful independent service not subordinate to the FSO (then GUO - Main Guards Directorate). Yeltsin’s chief bodyguard and head of the SBP during his first term, Aleksandr Korzhakov, was one of the dominant figures in Russian politics until his dismissal in 1996. During the Putin years, he served in the Duma.91
The FSO, like the FSB, benefited from the consolidation of the power ministries carried out in 2003. The FSO plays a key role in government communications and information security, providing the president with an alternative to the FSB for information on domestic developments. The heads of the FSO and the SBP under Putin, Yevgeniy Murov and Viktor Zolotov, respectively, both worked with him since his days in St. Petersburg in the 1990s. Although not publicly visible, allegedly both Murov and Zolotov were influential figures behind the scenes, and they resumed Korzhakov’s inclinations to involve the FSO and the SBP in economic and business matters.92
World History
