Russia Considers New Powers For KGB Successor

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Considers New Powers For KGB Successor

April 27, 2010

Russia's parliament is considering a government-drafted bill that would increase the power of the security services and restore practices once associated with their Soviet predecessor, the KGB.

The legislation would allow Federal Security Service officers to summon individuals for informal talks and issue written warnings about "inadmissible" participation in anti-government activities such as protest rallies. It also appeared aimed at tightening controls on journalists.

It was unclear when the bill would come up for a vote, and in the meantime it could be amended or even scuttled. But in its current form the legislation continues a trend under Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, who has allowed the security services to steadily regain power and influence at the expense of Russia's nascent democracy.

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin, now prime minister, has created an obedient parliament, abolished direct gubernatorial elections, presided over the reining in of non-state national television and cracked down on political dissent.

Like many of the past restrictions, the proposed new measures were described as part of an effort to combat extremism.

An explanatory note said some news organizations "propagate the cult of individualism, violence and mistrust in the government's capacity to protect its citizens, virtually drawing the youth to extremism."

Journalists who refuse to follow the demands of security officers or prevent them from fulfilling their duties could face charges under the legislation.

The bill, submitted Saturday, followed the twin subway bombings last month that killed 40 people. One of the bombers hit the Lubyanka subway station, beneath the headquarters of the security service.

The speaker of parliament's lower house, Boris Gryzlov, had sharply criticized two major Russian newspapers for their coverage, implying they had taken the side of the terrorists by noting that the attacks may have been motivated by the Kremlin's harsh policy in the North Caucasus.

Human rights advocates and opposition leaders said the new measures could be used to violate the rights of government critics and further curtail media independence.

"I am shocked by how brazen they are," said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the 82-year-old head of the Moscow Helsinki Group. "It's not even like Soviet times, when they (KGB officers) were under Communist Party control."

An opposition leader who has faced intimidation and pranks by pro-Kremlin youth groups said the law would only legitimize FSB officers' abusive treatment of Kremlin critics and ordinary Russians.

"The FSB has had these rights without these laws," said Ilya Yashin, who leads the youth movement of the liberal party Yabloko. "The situation is sickening, the public has no way of controlling them."

A Communist Party lawmaker said he was concerned about vague wording that would leave the legislation open to interpretation.

"The law is written in such a way that makes it hard to guess how it would work in practice," said Viktor Ilyukhin, a former prosecutor. "I have no doubts that it would open the way for arbitrary interpretations."

The Communist Party is the last remaining faction that occasionally opposes Kremlin-backed bills in the State Duma, the lower house.

[Ryan Ruck]

New Powers Given To Russia's Security Agency

July 19, 2010

The upper house of Russia's parliament on Monday passed a bill granting expanded powers to the country's main security agency, a move that critics say echoes the era of the Soviet KGB.

The bill, which now goes to President Dmitry Medvedev to be signed into law, would allow the Federal Security Service to issue warnings to people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia's security.

Human rights and democracy activists say this power could be used to intimidate government opponents and stifle protests.

"This law is targeted against the opposition ... It's a draconian law which is unprecedented in the world and is reminiscent of our repressive past," Boris Nemtsov, a leader of the opposition Solidarity movement, was quoted as saying by the news agency Interfax.

The security service is the main successor agency to the KGB.

The bill was approved by the upper house by a vote of 121-1. The sole vote against was cast by the house's speaker, Sergei Mironov, who said he had was apprehensive about the measure.

Opposition groups frequently are denied permission to hold rallies or are allowed to hold them only in out-of-the-way neighborhoods. Riot police often break up unsanctioned rally attempts swiftly and brutally.

The bill has raised doubts about President Dmitry Medvedev's commitment to promoting full-fledged democracy and freedom of expression. Medvedev often has spoken of instituting judicial and police reforms, and has taken a less hard line on many issues than his predecessor Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent and later head of the FSB.

Putin is now prime minister and many see his intolerance of dissent as influencing the Kremlin.

But Medvedev, when asked at a news conference last week about the proposed law, testily responded that the country has "the right to improve its own legislation."

The measure was introduced a few weeks after the March double suicide bombings on the Moscow subway system that killed 40 people. One of the bombers hit the Lubyanka subway station, beneath the headquarters of the security service.

[Ryan Ruck]

Obama really should call Putin and tell him the 1980s wants its foreign policy back...

Russia 'To Revive The KGB' After Putin Wins Biggest Majority

September 19, 2016

Russia plans effectively to revive the KGB under a massive shake-up of its security forces, a respected business daily has reported.

A State Security Ministry, or MGB, would be created from the current Federal Security Service (FSB) , and would incorporate the foreign intelligence service (SVR) and the state guard service (FSO), under the plans. It would be handed all-encompassing powers once possessed by the KGB, the Kommersant newspaper said, citing security service sources.

Like the much-feared KGB, it would also oversee the prosecutions of Kremlin critics, a task currently undertaken by the Investigative Committee, headed by Alexander Bastrykin, a former university classmate of President Putin. The Kremlin has not commented.

The MGB is expected to be in operation before the 2018 presidential elections, which could see Mr Putin secure a fourth term of office that would keep him in power until 2024.

Mr Putin served as a KGB officer in Soviet-era East Germany, and is also thought to have been responsible for keeping tabs on dissidents in his hometown of Leningrad, now St Petersburg. He headed the FSB from July 1998 to August 1999, before becoming prime minister, and has often quipped that there is no such thing as a former KGB officer.

“The KGB was one of the strongest special services in the world – everyone recognised this,” Sergei Goncharov, who served in Russia’s now disbanded Alpha counter-terror unit in the 1990s, told state media. Mr Goncharov also said the creation of the MGB would provide Russia with a “strong fist” overseen by a unified leadership.

Kremlin critics were horrified by the possible rebirth of an organisation synonymous in Russia with political oppression. “It’s time to get out [of the country],” wrote Elshad Babaev, a Twitter user. “Anyone who can should take the opportunity.”

The KGB was just one of the many incarnations of the Soviet Union’s feared secret police service, which was founded in 1917 as the Cheka.

The MGB is not a new designation. It was the name of the state security apparatus for eight years during Joseph Stalin’s bloody rule. It was renamed the KGB after Stalin’s death, and disbanded in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when its powers were distributed among a number of newly-created security services.

The Kommersant report came less than 24 hours after Mr Putin’s ruling United Russia party strengthened its grip on the Duma, the lower house of parliament, taking three-quarters of its 450 seats, its largest ever majority.

The two anti-Putin parties on the ballot – Parnas and Yabloko – failed to overcome the 5 per cent threshold to enter parliament.

Dmitry Gudkov, the only liberal opposition politician to hold a seat before, was defeated by a United Russia candidate.

"The question now is ... how to live with a one-party parliament," he said.

The election was marred by allegations of vote-rigging and widespread apathy. The turnout in Moscow was just 35 per cent, the lowest since Mr Putin came to power in 2000.

“A record low turnout. Democrats get less than 3 per cent. The MGB is to be recreated. Welcome to the brave new world,” said Vladimir Kara-Murza, the deputy leader of Parnas.

[vector7]

America has been taken for a ride.