Russia's FSB recruits whistleblowers with the help of street ads

The KGB is definitely the most distinct vestige of the Soviet system, on which it was based

The Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) penetrated into all spheres of the nation's political life, when Vladimir Putin took the office of the president. Now the FSB launched an advertising campaign, asking the population to inform special services of imminent crimes. “Your call will tie terrorists' hands” – one can see such ads in the streets of Moscow. Billboards contain FSB's online address too.

The FSB welcomes any kind of information, because “Russian citizens cooperating with foreign intelligence services can contact the Russian FSB with a view to become double-agents.” The fee that such agents receive from foreign services will be completely preserved for them, the “contacts” section on the webpage of the Federal Security Service says. Would-be secret agents can be certain that they will cooperate with high professionals of the Russian Security Service. There will be no criminal responsibility introduced for them either, if they did not commit other crimes or presented a timely notification about it to adequate agencies.

The FSB received 30 thousand emails from Russian citizens in 2004. Russian people are interested in such an endeavor – the FSB website has been receiving an increasing number of visits lately. Those, who are interested in history, can have a brief insight in the history of the Russian security service – from Felix Dzerzhinsky to Nikolai Patrushev.

The KGB, which was partially liquidated after the break-up of the USSR in 1991, was subsequently represented with two separate services (the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service). It is definitely the most distinct vestige of the Soviet system, on which it was based. The Russian political police have been reproaching, preaching, deporting, condemning, punishing and executing since the moment, when the service was established in 1917.

Russian specialists say that about 58 percent of people in the current presidential milieu used to serve in the KGB. Twenty percent of Federation Council members and 18 percent of State Duma deputies used to be KGB officers too. Special agents' experience is welcome in the business field too. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has recently urged the FSB to start working in the field of the economic espionage to create equal competitive conditions for entrepreneurs.