Abbreviation FSO Annual budget classified | Formed May 27, 1996 | |
Common name Federal Protective Service Preceding agency Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani (GUO) Legal personality Governmental: Government agency |
The Federal Protective Service (FSO) (Russian: Федеральная служба охраны, ФСО (Federalnaya Sluzhba Okhrany) of the Russian Federation, official name in English Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation) is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several, mandated by the relevant law, high-ranking state officials, 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.
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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 forgo state protection."
FSO includes the Russian Presidential Security Service. This president's personal security is directed by Viktor Zolotov who, according to Sergei Tretiakov, also supervises the entire FSO.
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 plainclothed personnel and controls the Cheget that can be used in the event of 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.
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.