Federal_Protective_Service_of_Russia
Federal Protective Service (Russia)
Russian federal law enforcement agency concerned with protection of state officials
The Federal Protective Service, or the Federal Guard Service (Russian: Федеральная служба охраны, ФСО, romanized: Federalnaya sluzhba okhrany, FSO) of the Russian Federation, official name in English Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation,[1] is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several high-ranking state officials, mandated by the relevant law, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties. It traces its origin to the USSR's Ninth Chief Directorate of the KGB and later Presidential Security Service (SBP) led by KGB general Alexander Korzhakov.
On May 27, 1996, the law "On State Protection" reorganized the GUO (Glavnoye Upravlenie Okhrani) into the FSO (Federal Protection Service). Under article 7 of the law, "the President of the Russian Federation, while in office, shall not be allowed to forego state protection."[2]
FSO includes the Russian Presidential Security Service.[3] The FSO includes an estimated 50,000 troops[4] and controls the "black box" that can be used in the event of nuclear war.[5] It reportedly uses advanced domestic technical developments.[6]