The Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation (Федеральная служба охраны Российской Федерации (Federal'naya sluzhba okhrany Rossiyskoy Federatsii)), also known as the FGS of Russia (ФСО России), is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several high-ranking state officials, mandated by the relevant law, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties. It traces its origin to the USSR's Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB and later Presidential Security Service (SBP) led by KGB general Alexander Korzhakov. On May 27, 1996, the law "On State Protection" reorganized the GUO (Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani) into the FSO (Federal Protection Service). Under article 7 of the law, "the President of the Russian Federation, while in office, shall not be allowed to forego state protection." FSO includes the Russian Presidential Security Service. The FSO includes an estimated 50,000 troops and controls the "black box" that can be used in the event of nuclear war. It reportedly uses advanced domestic technical developments.

Structure and command

Since May 18, 2000, and until May 26, 2016, the agency was headed by General Evgeny Murov; since May 26, 2016, the head of the service is General Dmitry Kochnev. The FSO has roughly 50,000 uniformed personnel plus several thousand plain-clothed personnel. It controls the Cheget that can be used in the event of a global nuclear war. It also operates a secure communications system for senior government officials. The FSO is a powerful institution with a range of rights and powers, including the right to conduct searches and surveillance without warrants, make arrests, and give orders to other state agencies. The FSO is organized into the following services: One of the FSO units is the Kremlin Regiment. A more recent addition to the FSO infrastructure is the Special Communications Service of Russia (Spetsviaz) which was incorporated as a structural sub unit on August 7, 2004.

History of the federal protective services

List of leaders

Heads of the GUO/Directors of the FSO

Deputy Directors of the FSO

Prominent defectors