FOCUS: RUSSIA  work being carried out in Putin's innermost circle. The Director of the National Guard is General Viktor Zolotov, one of the President's closest confidants. From 1999 to 2013, Zolotov was head of the Presidential Security Service, Putin's bodyguard. There is considerable overlap between the competencies of the National Guard and those of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and other power ministries. Among the central security agencies, the National Guard also acts as a counterweight to the FSB. One of its most important departments is that responsible for economic security. This is used by the Kremlin e.g. to control the oligarchs and critical financial flows in Russia. Like most other power ministries, the FSB has its own academy, which is one of the country's most prestigious universities. The FSB can therefore now draw on a younger generation of officers who are also familiar with the latest technologies. One of the areas it covers is surveillance of the Internet and offensive cyber campaigns against domestic and foreign organisations. Federal Security Service Like the National Guard, the FSB is primarily responsible for Russia's internal security. It employs more than 300,000 people and has regional departments spread across the entire country. Its current leadership is made up of individuals belonging to various factions in Putin's entourage. The FSB is thus not run by a homogeneous leadership, which makes Putin's control over the organisation more difficult. Military Intelligence Service Another large institution in the Russian state apparatus that can carry out cyber operations is the Military Intelligence Service (GU, until 2011 known as the GRU). It reports to the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff. Besides the GU, there are other organisations in the Ministry of Defence that are active in the cyber arena and have been expanded considerably in recent years. The GU has a large number of V. Putin President Petersburg Group (selection) Y. Kovalchuk Rossiya Bank Presidential Administration S. Chemezov Rostec National Guard Control of Maintenance of domestic political public order processes 24 SI TUATIO N R E P O RT 2018 | F I S V. Zolotov N. Patrushev National Guard National Security Council I. Sechin Rosneft A. Bortnikov FSB S. Naryshkin SVR FSB FSO GU SVR Russia’s most influential power ministry Protection of individuals and properties Foreign military intelligence Foreign political and economic intelligence A. Bastrykin Investigative Committee Ministry of Investigative Foreign Affairs Committee Training ground for the diplomatic corps and employees of the intelligence services Elimination of domestic political opponents