Yeltsin signs decree on turning KGB into Federal Security Agency
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MOSCOW. Nov 26 (Interfax) – Russian President Boris Yeltsin has signed a decree in turning the State Security Committee (KGB) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) into the Federal Security Agency.
According to the provisional addendum to the decree, the Agency is subordinated to the Russian president and reports to the RSFSR Supreme Council.
The main areas of the Federal Security Agency's activity are intelligence, counterintelligence, the fight against organized crime and corruption, information support for the authorities and governmental agencies, as well as counter-terrorism.
The former chairman of the RSFSR KGB and now Federal Security Agency General Director, Viktor Ivanenko, told Interfax that the agency's structure would undergo significant changes. In particular, separate counterintelligence bodies will be merged, while the Directorate for the Protection of Constitutional Order will eventually be disbanded.
The Counter-terrorism Directorate will tackle the prevention of public disorder in Russia, Ivanenko said.
At the same time, he said that the situation in large Russian cities, in particular Moscow, was tending to deteriorate.
Inspections at KGB directorates in the Krasnodar Territory, Rostov and Chelyabinsk regions have been held over the past few weeks, Ivanenko said. The inspections revealed that KGB's territorial bodies are in crisis: 20 of the 70 chiefs of territorial directorates were fired and 30 will soon be fired, he said. A far-reaching personnel reform will take place, he said.