Abbreviation MGB (МГБ) | Employees up to 250,000 | |
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Common name Ministry of State Security Legal personality Governmental: Government agency General nature Law enforcement
Civilian agency | ||
The Ministry for State Security, or MGB (Russian: Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti; МГБ, Министе́рство госуда́рственной безопа́сности; IPA: [mʲɪnʲɪˈsʲtʲɛrstvə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪnnəj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ]), is a planned security agency of the Russian Federation. News of its coming creation made headlines in September 2016 under the Presidency of Vladimir Putin. According to various sourcesizes, the ministry will merge the federal security services, federal bodyguard services, and foreign intelligence services into a unified agency. In fact, such ministry still exists only on pages and has not been formed.
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History
A Ministry for State Security (MGB) had existed in the Soviet Union until the death of Joseph Stalin on 5 March 1953. In addition to in the Soviet Union, agencies by the same name also existed in the German Democratic Republic (the Stasi) and exist in the People's Republic of China, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, and the Luhansk People's Republic.
Creation
In April 2016, the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Drug Control Service were both abolished. Their functions were transferred to the newly-established National Guard. Additionally, the Prosecutor General’s Office was merged with the Investigative Committee, and the duties of the dissolved Ministry of Emergency Situations were divided between the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry.
According to some reports, the powers of the MGB will includes conducting criminal investigations and overseeing political trials. The MGB will employ up to 250,000 people.
The Kremlin officials has denied any rumors of creation such Ministry. Former Head of Presidential Administration, Sergei Ivanov said that there is no such plan for forming such gigantic ministry and that the intelligence activities must be separated from counter-intelligence functions.
Reaction
News of the creation of the MGB received mixed reactions.
Viktor Nechiporenko of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration said that of the MGB that such agencies had existed since "pre-revolutionary" Russia. Former Moscow chief of police Arkady Murashov likewise said that "historically, such a structure had always existed in Russia, except for the last 25 years; this is a familiar structure." The uniting of agencies under the MGB, said Nechiporenko and Ruslan Milchenko and, was a measure designed to maintain control over law enforcement officers and prevent conflict between agencies. According to a Russia Beyond the Headlines poll, "[we] do not believe that the MGB has the potential to become a monstrous power structure that will further restrict civil liberties in Russia."
Former KGB colonel Gennady Gudkov of the Alliance of Greens and Social Democrats criticized the agency. "It is entirely clear that the country has gone from authoritarian to totalitarian," he said.