What is kgb

The original Cheka primarily monitored threats of counterrevolution and sabotage. Against the backdrop of the Russian Civil War, the agency carried out the arrests, imprisonments and executions of an estimated more than , suspected enemies of the state during a campaign known as the Red Terror.

Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin from , and with powers across the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USSR , the agency managed labour camps and carried out the policy of agricultural collectivisation. Fear spread across the USSR as millions of people were sent to gulags, accused of being criminals or political prisoners.

The agency was organised into directorates and each was responsible for separate security concerns, including the safety of political leaders, foreign intelligence and internal counterintelligence. Yuri Andropov became head of the KGB in the s, and the security agency began surveillance of dissidents involved in the church. It also stepped up the persecution of human rights advocates, religious activists and intellectuals, and played a part in suppressing anti-Soviet protests during the Prague Spring in Spies and double agents gathered intelligence and were known to abduct or kill those who were seen as a threat to the regime.

Soviet security forces made their presence felt in Asia too, sending 30, troops into Afghanistan in to support the then Communist government against anti-communist uprisings. If the GRU did indeed mount operations in Ukraine and against the US Democrats, then they certainly achieved what were presumably their goals: the rebels retain control of their territory in east Ukraine to this day, and Hillary Clinton famously lost the election to Donald Trump.

But other operations attributed to the agency appear to have been spectacular flops, albeit with deadly consequences as in Salisbury, where a woman died. The two alleged GRU operatives who went to the UK not only failed to assassinate their presumed target, Sergei Skripal, but left a trail of evidence behind them like bungling amateurs - unless, of course, their disregard for CCTV cameras was deliberately brazen, meant to send a signal that Russia is prepared to take high risks in pursuit of its security goals.

Mr Skripal, convicted of treason and jailed in Russia , had been released in a spy swap in In the same year as the Salisbury attack, four other suspected GRU agents were caught red-handed in the Netherlands trying to hack the wifi network of the chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, which was investigating the Skripal poisoning as well as a chemical attack in Syria.

Like the Salisbury suspects, they had left a trail of evidence online as well as on paper, although they were allowed to return to Russia by the Dutch authorities. Clearly the guidance they are getting is, within bounds: it doesn't really matter. Don't worry too much about the fallout. Blast puts spotlight on shadowy Russian force. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What do we know about the Russian intelligence organisation, the GRU?

What do we know for certain about the GRU? Image source, Reuters. What is the GRU known for today? Image source, AFP. The Fifth Chief Directorate had special operational departments for religious dissent, national minorities, the intelligentsia and the artistic community, and censorship of literature.

The Sixteenth Directorate [former State Communications Department] maintained the telephone and radio systems used by all Soviet government agencies. The Border Troops Directorate protected Soviet land and sea borders.

In addition to the various directorates and a special network of training and education establishments, the KGB included a variety of other organizations : a personnel department, a secretariat, a technical support staff, a finance department, an archives, an administration department, and a party committee.

Most of these bodies had counterparts within the different directorates. Party committees, which existed in every Soviet organization, handled political indoctrination of personnel. Heads of party committees arranged regular meetings to discuss party matters and served as liaisons between the party and the KGB at various levels, although party membership was probably universal among KGB employees. Nor did they include functions of the Third Chief Directorate, which was organized primarily along military service lines or by military district.

In addition, functions such as communications and foreign espionage may have been administered only in Moscow. Sources and Methods Chapter