Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)

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The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is the civilian foreign intelligence agency of Russia. The SVR succeeded the First Chief Directorate of the KGB in December 1991. The SVR has its headquarters in the Yasenevo District, Moscow; its director reports directly to the president of the Russian Federation. In contrast to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the SVR is tasked with intelligence and espionage activities abroad. A small service, it works collaboratively with its military intelligence counterpart, the Main Intelligence Directorate, better known as the GRU. As of 1997, the GRU reportedly deploys six times as many spies abroad as the SVR. The SVR is authorized to negotiate intelligence-sharing arrangements with foreign governments, particularly on matters of counterterrorism, and is tasked with providing intelligence reports to the Russian president. Information pertaining to the identities of staff employees (officers) of the SVR is considered a state secret; since September...

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