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KGB & Other Buddies in Putin Apparat
By RICHARD F. STAAR(1)
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
Stanford University

With the election on 26 March of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as president of Russia, it was natural to speculate about whom he would bring into his administration and what policies he may pursue. Fortunately, two recently published articles identify 26 individuals, already in government or soon to be occupying responsible positions, as Putin appointees (see table below). Almost half of them have been identified as former or current KGB/FSB intelligence officers. The percentage may be even higher, because only sparse data are available on the backgrounds of other recent appointees.

This situation seems natural enough, if one expects Putin to bring into his own presidential administration "the best and the brightest" (as he calls his former KGB/FSB colleagues), who will implement his policies. Since organized crime controls some 40 percent of GDP, according to the new president,(2) one would look for him to curtail such activities on a priority basis.

Assignment of current and/or former intelligence officers to key governmental positions suggests that Russia is on its way to becoming an authoritarian state, as it had been from Lenin through Khrushchev. Already, the FSB (domestic intelligence agency) has been ordered to monitor the allegiance of military personnel, i.e., becoming a police force in the armed services. At the same time, military training of schoolboys from age 15 was instituted on 31 December 1999, the day that Putin became acting president.(3)

Early in the subsequent month, Putin approved a law providing security agencies with access to all e-mail in Russia as well as other electronic traffic carried on the Internet. "This means Russia has become a police state," said Yelena Bonner, widow of the late nuclear physicist and Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov.(4) Moreover, Putin himself has never condemned either the role played by the secret police or the mass deportations of the Chechen people by Stalin. On the contrary, as acting president, he explained his actions as follows:

"The people want order to be introduced in Russia. And we are acting in the North Caucasus. I can firmly say we are doing this on the instruction of the Russian people."(5)

According to an eyewitness report from Moscow, soon after assuming the premiership, Putin invited his four immediate predecessors (Yevgeny Primakov, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Sergei Kirienko, and Sergei Stepashin) to provide him with advice regarding Chechnya. They all counseled caution in early September 1999, suggesting occupation only of the flat northern one-third of the territory. From such a vantage point, commando raids could be launched against rebel leaders. This advice was not heeded. Russia attempted to take control of mountainous areas, which Stepashin doubts Russia will be able to secure.(6)

In the meanwhile, the capital city of Grozny has been leveled and its 400,000 inhabitants dispersed. Some 300,000 refugees have fled abroad, at least 10,000 Chechens have been killed, and yet the fighting continues. Some of the atrocities have been filmed and even aired on television in Moscow. Is this what the Russian people really want?

The pro-government Russian Public Television (ORT) recently showed the bombing of a large Chechen village by TOS-1 rockets, filled with flammable liquid, and Tochka-U missiles that cover up to seven hectares of land with cluster shrapnel actions in clear violation of the 1980 Geneva Convention.(7) Since the order to do so has been approved by Putin, he should be tried as a war criminal.

The Russian "people," we are told, want law and order. There has been little discussion as to how this will be effected under the Putin presidency. He also vows to eliminate corruption. However, allegations and rumors hinting at Putin's involvement in questionable business and governmental activities during the past decade have surfaced time and again. Should these allegations prove to be true, they cast a different light on the man who has attempted to project himself as a crime fighter who will eliminate corruption in high places. Crime and corruption among government officials increased by 35.6 percent during 1999, according to First Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Kozlov. The total number of cases reached 53,700, although only 21,000 officials were charged.(8)

On the other hand, the new national security concept, signed by acting President Putin on 6 January 2000, holds greater significance for the United States and the international community as a whole. It should be noted that he had been responsible for producing this document as Yel'tsin's national security advisor.

Most significant in this concept is the reversal from an earlier "no first-use" pledge regarding nuclear weapons. Basic external threats to Russia, according to the document, include:

• attempts to weaken the political, economic, and military influence of Russia in the world;
  
• the strengthening of politico-military blocs, especially through NATO expansion eastward;
  
• the possibility that foreign military blocs will appear within the immediate proximity of Russian borders;
  
• proliferation of mass-destruction weapons and delivery systems;
  
• intensification of centrifugal processes within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS);
  
• penetration and escalation of conflicts near Russian and CIS borders;
  
• territorial demands against Russia.(9)
  

Putin's Cadres in St. Petersburg and Moscow
Name	Position	Connection
Abramov, Aleksandr	Deputy Director, Presidential Administration (relations with regions)	ex-VP, Al'fa Bank
Alekseev, Sergei	Director, largest exhibit hall (LenExpo) in St. Petersburg	acquaintance from St. Petersburg
Bobrovsky, Nikolai	Deputy Director, Prime Minister's secretariat	co-student at KGB Institute
Bolloev, Taimuraz	Director General, Baltika Beer Co.	sports connection
Chemezov, Sergei	Head, PromEksport	ex-KGB officer
Cherkesov, Viktor	First Deputy Director, FSB	co-student at law school
Golov, Sergei	Deputy Director, Presidential Administration	ex-KGB officer
Golubev, Valeri	Head, Tourism Commission, St. Petersburg	ex-KGB officer
Gref, German	First Deputy Minister, Government Property Office	head, Center for Strategic Studies
Ivanov, Sergei	Secretary, Security Council	ex-KGB officer and close friend
Ivanov, Viktor	Deputy Director, Presidential Administration	ex-KGB/FSB
Khrameshkin, Nikolai	Director, "Leningrad" Import-Export --Industry Association	acquaintance from St. Petersburg
Kozak, Dmitri	Putin's Deputy Chief of Staff	worked with VVP in St. Peterburg
Kozhin, Vladimir	Head, Foreign Exchange Export Control (FSB)	ex-KGB officer
Kudrin, Aleksei	First Deputy Finance Minister	knew VVP in St. Petersburg
Medvedev, Dmitri	Deputy Director, Presidential Administration	law degree, St. Petersburg
Miller, Aleksei	Director, Baltic Pipeline Co.	former VVP deputy, St. Petersburg
Patrushev, Nikolai	Director, FSB	(succeeded VVP)  in Leningrad KGB
Reiman, Leonid	Communications Minister	friend and traveling companion
Sechin, Igor'	Deputy Director, Presidential Administration	headed VVP Secretariat, when PM
Shamakhov, Vladimir	Director, NW Administration, State Customs (FSB)	friend and ex-KGB officer
Shevchenko, Yuri	Health Minister and M.D	old acquaintance
Spassky, Boris	Academician; Director, Defense Research Institute	acquaintance from St. Petersburg
Stepanov, Andrei	Director, Oil Co., St. Petersburg	worked with VVP in St. Petersburg
Yakovlev, Vladimir	Chairman, Culture Commission, St. Petersburg	close friend
Zaostrovsky, Yuri	Deputy Director, FSB	ex-KGB officer
Sources: Dmitri Ezhov, "Dos'e: Blizhnii krug," Sobesednik, no. 1 (806), 1319 January 2000, p. 3; Igor' Cherniak, "Liudi Putina: kto est' kto," Komosomsol'skaya pravda, no. 14 (23238), 26 January 2000, p. 6.
Note: The author expresses his gratitude to Ms. Molly Molloy, Slavic research librarian at the Hoover Institution, for her kind assistance in compiling this table as well as for other invaluable help.

Notes:
1. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Dr. Staar is also a visiting Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University and author of The New Military in Russia (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996).
2. V.V. Putin, "Rossiya na rubezhe tysiacheletiya," http://government.gov.ru (posted 1 January 2000), p. 16.
3Moscow Times, 11 February 2000; cited by RFE/RL Newsline,11 February 2000.
4. Quotation cited by Jannie Detmer, "Putin Remolds Russia of Old," Washington Times, 17 February 2000, p. 1.
5. Quoted by Fred Weir, "Putin Dodges Foreign Critics of Chechnya War," Christian Science Monitor, 31 January 2000, p. 7.
6. Stepashin interview in Moscow with Michael R. Gordon, "A Look at How the Kremlin Slid into the Chechnya War," The New York Times, 1 February 2000, p. A-6.
7. Pavel Felgenhauer, "War Criminals Bury Grudge," Moscow News, 17 February 2000; reproduced by Post-Soviet Armies Newsletter, http://www.psan.org.
8. "Corruption Among Officials on the Rise," RFE/RL Newsline, 2 March 2000.
9. "Kontseptsiya natsional'noi bezopasnosti Rossiiskoi Federatsii," Nezavisimoe voennoe obozrenie, 26 November3 December 1999, pp. 1, 4, and 5; at p. 4. This document was approved by the Security Council on 5 October 1999.
10. "Russian Navy to Resume Strategic Deployments," Jane's Defense Weekly, 1 December 1999, p. 5.
11. Vitali Denisov, "Oboronnyi zakaz uvelichitsiya v poltora raza," Krasnaya zvezda, 28 January 2000, p. 1.
12. Olga Antonova, "Putin Boosts Defense Spending," Moscow News, 28 February 2000, p. 2. See also Celestine Bohlen, "Some Skeptics See Iron Hand in Putin's Glove," The New York Times, 2 March 2000, p. A-8.