Contents tagged with FSB

  • Putin allows Russian intelligence officers to have dual citizenship

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to allow intelligence officers to have dual citizenship. On September 22, as part of the amendments to the Constitution, Putin submitted to the Russian State Duma amendments to the laws on foreign intelligence and the Federal Security Service (FSB), Vedomosti reports.

    The lower house of the Russian parliament has already approved the law and sent it to the upper house. The explanatory note to the law says that the document proposes the introduction of …

  • Russia bans media from publishing materials about special services without their permission

    The Russian parliament, the State Duma, approved in the third reading amendments to the law on the Federal Security Service (FSB), prohibiting the publication and distribution of materials about the FSB without the permission of the agency's leadership, reports Novoye Vremya news outlet.

    The law outlines the measures for the observance of professional confidentiality by military personnel, federal civil servants, current and former employees of the FSB.

    According to the law, protected …

  • Kyiv detains Ukrainian general on suspicion of spying for Russia

    Ukrainian counterintelligence officials have detained a of a high-ranking agent of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Major General of the Ukrainian Security Service Valery Shaitanov.

    According to a statement published on the website of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Shaytanov is suspected of treason and committing terrorist acts.

    "Following the instructions of the Russian special services, he planned to kill a well-known military volunteer Adam Osmayev. The SBU has collected …

  • Russian Security Services are looking for new cyber weapons

    Hacker group Digital Revolution has published documents showing a contract request of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to develop the so-called "Fronton" program, which allows to carry out cyberattacks using infected Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

    Digital Revolution calls itself the "face of the digital revolution." In 2018-2019, the group released documents obtained as a result of the hacking of two alleged FSB contractors. It was reported that the Russian secret service …

  • FSB demands round-the-clock access to Russian citizens’ online correspondence

    Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has demanded that the major internet service providers give it access to their users’ online activity, The Bell reports, citing sources in Russian internet companies.

    In summer last year, Russian companies on the register of information distribution operators (IDO) started receiving a letter from the FSB headquarters on Lubyanka Square related to the requirements of the “Yarovaya Law”. In the letter, the FSB instructed the companies to install equipment …

  • Russian media: Four FSB officers were killed near Latakia where Turkey and Syria were meant to meet for negotiations

    Four officers of the Special Forces Directorate of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) – Bulat Akhmatyanov, Ruslan Gimadiev, Dmitry Minov and Vsevolod Trofimov – were killed on February 1 not in combat near Aleppo, as reported previously, but on the outskirts of Latakia. It was there that senior leaders of Turkey and Syria were planning to meet, and Russia was assisting with security. Sources told Novaya Gazeta that the attack may have been provocative in nature.

    According to the sources, …

  • Four Russian FSB officers killed by pro-Turkish forces in Syria

    A large number of Russian media outlets have published reports that four officers of the Special Forces counter-terrorism directorate of Russia’s FSB have been killed in Syria. 

    The reports began to appear on Sunday, February 2. It was first reported by the Telegram channel “Special Forces Channel”, which specializes in covering the activity of Russia’s security forces. The special forces in question were reportedly two pairs of Russian snipers who were meant to cooperate with Syrian …

  • Four Russian special forces officers killed in Syria

    According to unconfirmed reports, four officers from the Russian FSB Special Forces counter-terrorism directorate were killed yesterday in the Aleppo province.

    The Telegram channel “Special Forces Channel” reported the news and published the name and the photo of one of the killed officers.

    According to the channel, Captain Dmitry Minov was killed on February 1.

    The officers were reportedly killed after coming under mortar fire in the Aleppo Province.

  • Putin approves temporary travel ban for former Russian Federal Security Service employees

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that bans former Federal Security Service (FSB) officers from leaving the country for up to five years. Such restriction can be established from the date of dismissal. The document is published on the official Internet website of legal information.

    Earlier, the co-author of the bill, Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasilii Piskarev, said that the amendments are the result of " frequent cases of openly hostile …

  • Hackers uncover Russia’s secret cyber projects

    Hackers have successfully breached the server of the Moscow-based company SyTech, a major IT contractor for Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), BBC reports.

    The hack took place on 13 July 2019. SyTech’s website was replaced by a “Yoba Face”, a meme of a large yellow face with a broad smile that is widely used by hackers as a sign that they have gained access to the victim’s data.

    A screenshot of the Yoba Face appeared on the Twitter account Ov1ru$, which was registered on the day of the …