AGENTS IN POWER

Published: February 12, 2008 (Issue # 1347)

The number of current and former intelligence officers employed by the state has increased significantly under President Vladimir Putin. Here are some senior figures linked to the security services.

The Kremlin

Vladimir Putin, president, KGB lieutenant colonel. He was recruited by the KGB in 1975 and served in the First Department of the Leningrad Directorate (foreign intelligence) until 1983. He served as a spy in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1990.

Igor Sechin, Kremlin deputy chief of staff, Rosneft chairman. In what experts say was an undercover KGB job, he worked as a Portuguese translator in Mozambique. He is believed to have played a key role in the legal assault on Yukos, once Russia’s biggest oil company.

Viktor Ivanov, presidential aide; chairman of Aeroflot and Almaz-Antei, KGB colonel general. He has served as FSB deputy director and head of the FSB’s economic security department.

Vladimir Osipov, head of the Kremlin’s personnel department. He formerly worked for the Federal Agency of Governmental Communication and Information, or FAPSI.

Igor Porshnev, head of the Kremlin’s information department. In what experts say was an undercover KGB job, he worked as a journalist for Gosteleradio (State Television and Radio) in India.

Alexei Gromov, head of the Kremlin’s press service, Channel One television board member. He is a career diplomat believed to have links to the security services.

The Government

Sergei Ivanov, first deputy prime minister; head of United Aircraft Corporation, the state aviation holding; controls the country’s military-industrial complex. He worked for Soviet foreign intelligence in Africa and Europe and served as FSB deputy director from August 1998 to March 2001. Defense minister from 2001 to 2007.

Nikolai Pankov, deputy defense minister. He graduated from the KGB Higher School in 1980 and served at the agency for many years. He headed the State Border Service in 1997 and 1998. In 2001, he was appointed head of the Security Council’s secretariat. Sergei Ivanov brought him to the Defense Ministry.

Andrei Chobotov, head of the Defense Ministry’s personnel department. He is a former KGB and FSB agent and a close ally of Sergei Ivanov.

Rashid Nurgaliyev, interior minister. He was hired as a KGB investigator in 1981. In 1995, he worked at the central office of the Federal Counterespionage Service, or FSK. He later served as an FSB chief inspector and head of the FSB’s internal security department.

Arkady Yedelev, deputy interior minister, police colonel general. He served in the KGB and FSB.

Yevgeny Shkolov, head of the Interior Ministry’s economic security department. He served in the KGB and FSB.

Yury Draguntsov, head of the Interior Ministry’s internal security department, KGB major general. He served in the KGB and FSB.

Viktor Cherkesov, Federal Drug Control Service chief. He served in the KGB and FSB.

Konstantin Romodanovsky, Federal Migration Service chief. He attended the KGB school in Minsk.

Sergei Veryovkin-Rokhalsky, chief of the Federal Agency for Financial and Tax Crimes, KGB colonel general. He worked for the KGB in the Leningrad region and for the FSB in various Russian regions.

Yury Zubakov, Security Council deputy secretary. He served as a KGB officer and was ambassador to Moldova.

Mikhail Barsukov, head of the Security Council’s military inspection department. A former FSB director.

Sergei Poltavchenko, presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, a KGB lieutenant general.

Grigory Rapota, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District. He served in the KGB and as deputy head of the Foreign Intelligence Service from 1994 to 1998. He also served as Security Council deputy secretary and secretary-general of the Eurasian Economic Community, a union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Anatoly Safonov, presidential counterterrorism envoy. He has served as deputy foreign minister and head of the KGB’s branch in Krasnoyarsk.

Murat Zyazikov, Ingush president, KGB general.

Vladimir Kulakov, Voronezh governor. He headed the KGB’s and later the FSB’s branch in Voronezh.

Valery Potapenko, Nenets governor. He served in the KGB and FSB. Putin appointed him to the post after the previous governor was accused of fraud.

Sergei Lebedev, CIS executive secretary. He formerly headed the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. He has worked in the KGB and FAPSI, headed the State Border Service, and served as ambassador to Denmark.

State Companies

Valery Golubev, Gazprom deputy chairman. He served in the KGB.

Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom deputy chairman, head of Gazexport, RosUkrEnergo board member. In what experts say was an undercover KGB job, he worked for Soviet bank Donaubank in Vienna at the same time as Andrei Akimov, now Gazprombank’s chief.

Konstantin Chuichenko, head of Gazprom’s legal department and executive director of RosUkrEnergo. He served in the KGB.

Sergei Ushakov, deputy head of Gazprom’s management committee. He served in the KGB.

Yury Shamalov, head of Gazflot, the Gazprom subsidiary that is exploring the Arctic shelf and plans to handle future Gazprom shipments of liquefied natural gas. He served in the KGB and FSB from 1987 to 2007.

Andrei Akimov, Gazprombank chief. In what experts say was an undercover KGB job, he worked for Vneshtorgbank in Switzerland and for Donaubank, another Soviet bank, in Vienna. He worked at Donaubank at the same time as Alexander Medvedev, now Gazprom’s deputy chairman.

Yevgeny Plyusnin, head of Gazprombank’s personnel department. He served in the KGB and FSB.

Sergei Ivanov, Gazprombank vice president and son of First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Alexander Ivanov, Vneshekonombank manager, FSB officer, son of First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Andrei Patrushev, Rosneft aide, FSB officer, son of FSB director Nikolai Patrushev.

Sergei Chemezov, head of Russian Technologies. In what experts say was an undercover KGB job, he worked for an obscure company in Dresden, East Germany, in the 1980s. He told Itogi magazine in 2005 that Putin was his neighbor in Dresden.

Vladimir Yakunin, head of Russian Railways. In what experts say were undercover KGB jobs, he worked in the Soviet Committee for Foreign Trade Relations and later in the Soviet mission to the United Nations.

Source: SPT Research