Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)
Russia's primary external intelligence agency / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (Russian: Служба внешней разведки Российской Федерации, romanized: Sluzhba vneshney razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii, IPA: [ˈsluʐbə ˈvnʲɛʂnʲɪj rɐˈzvʲɛtkʲɪ]) or SVR RF (Russian: СВР РФ) is Russia's external intelligence agency, focusing mainly on civilian affairs. The SVR RF succeeded the First Chief Directorate (PGU) of the KGB in December 1991.[2] The SVR has its headquarters in the Yasenevo District of Moscow with its director reporting directly to the President of the Russian Federation.
Служба внешней разведки Российской Федерации | |
Flag of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | December 1991; 32 years ago (1991-12) |
Preceding agency | |
Jurisdiction | Russia |
Headquarters | Yasenevo, Moscow, Russia 55.584°N 37.517°E / 55.584; 37.517 |
Employees | Classified; estimated 13,000 in 2010[1] |
Annual budget | Classified |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive | |
Child agency |
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Website | svr.gov.ru |
Footnotes | |
Building details | |
Unlike the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the SVR is tasked with intelligence and espionage activities outside the Russian Federation. It works together with the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (Russian: Главное разведывательное управление, romanized: Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye, IPA: [ˈglavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə], GRU), its military-joint affairs espionage counterpart, which reportedly deployed six times as many spies in foreign countries as the SVR in 1997.[3] The SVR is also authorized to negotiate anti-terrorist cooperation and intelligence-sharing arrangements with foreign intelligence agencies, and provides analysis and dissemination of intelligence to the Russian president.[4]
Any information pertaining to specific identities of staff employees (officers) of the SVR is legally classified as a state secret; since September 2018, the same applies to non-staff personnel (i.e., informers and recruited agents).[5]