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August 21, 2025: Since Vladimir Putin took control of Russia over twenty years ago, he has sought to recreate the Soviet Union—not only its socialist government with him in charge but also the territory it once controlled. He began with Ukraine, which proved far more challenging than anticipated. The invasion of Ukraine triggered crippling economic sanctions and a collapsing Russian economy.
To address this crisis, Putin realized strong measures were necessary. Drawing on his KGB background, he enlisted many friends and associates from those days to serve in his new government.
Russia is increasingly becoming a full police state. New laws reinstate many of the arbitrary powers once held by Soviet police and intelligence officials. While post-Soviet Russia remains a democracy in name, elected officials are restoring the surveillance and control capabilities their Soviet predecessors relied on. The primary vehicle for implementing this new police state is the FSB, the successor to the Cold War-era KGB. This organization is regaining many of its Soviet-era powers and personnel.
Before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the KGB was the most powerful organization in the country, operating as a law unto itself as long as it focused on keeping the Communist Party in power. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the KGB lost much of its influence but did not disappear. It was fragmented into several organizations, with the FSB, a counterintelligence agency with police powers, as the main successor. The SVR, responsible for overseas espionage, was another. Since the late 1990s, the FSB has been steadily reclaiming its Cold War-era authority and personnel, including control over the border police and various specialized technical organizations. While this pleases the law-and-order community, it alarms Russians who recall the KGB’s role as the primary enforcer of the communist dictatorship.
The FSB’s expanded powers allow it to operate with near impunity, reminiscent of the communist era. The FSB now directly controls over 100,000 personnel and has authority over many more in other government departments, including the national police force. The Communist Party has been replaced by an oligarchy of wealthy men who amassed fortunes through business acumen, corruption, outright theft, and personal ties to Putin. In effect, this group is a more efficient version of the Communist Party bureaucrats who ruled and terrorized Russians for 70 years. While less lethal than their communist predecessors, the new elite is no less intolerant of criticism.
The KGB gained most of its power just before World War II, after dictator Joseph Stalin purged much of the army leadership to prevent a potential military takeover. The KGB became a powerful state secret police, combining the roles of the FBI, CIA, and more. It was omnipresent, tasked with keeping the communist leadership in power, and maintained a network of informants within the military.
When Stalin died of natural causes in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev and close Communist Party associates assumed control. One of their first acts was to execute the head of the KGB, Lavrentiy Beria, a Stalin loyalist responsible for large-scale massacres within the Communist Party and KGB. Less ruthless KGB officers were promoted to lead the organization. Until the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, the KGB remained at the top of the social, political, economic, and legal hierarchy. In the late 1980s, reformers like Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power with the support of senior KGB officials who recognized the need for change. The KGB, a relatively small group compared to the military and Communist Party, was prepared to survive the next revolution, as their tsarist predecessors had survived the 1917 Revolution. The KGB endured, and its successors are now being rewarded for their loyalty and effectiveness in addressing terrorism, corruption, and crime.
While the FSB has regained control of the border police, this force is a shadow of its Soviet predecessor. During the Soviet era, the KGB maintained 200,000 border troops, equipped with armored units, naval ships, and combat aircraft. These forces served functions similar to the United States Coast Guard and Border Patrol but with far greater power and nearly twice the personnel. The 25,000 sailors in the Maritime Border Guards (MBG) answered only to the head of the KGB. A lieutenant commanding an MBG patrol boat could order any Russian warship to halt and arrest its captain, a key function to prevent mutiny or defection by Soviet Navy or merchant fleet personnel.
Smuggling was a minor issue, as Russian currency was worthless abroad, and few Soviet products were valuable or compact enough to smuggle profitably. Moreover, much of Russia’s coastline lies in Arctic waters, with the remainder bordering other communist nations. The MBG’s primary task was preventing Russian citizens from fleeing, a criminal offense that filled prisons with those caught attempting to escape.
MBG personnel were carefully selected. Although two-thirds were conscripts, they were chosen from the most reliable Slavic candidates and received special benefits and privileges for serving three years instead of two. These benefits extended into civilian life, marking them as loyal government supporters worthy of job assignments and other privileges. With only a quarter of personnel replaced annually due to the three-year term, the MBG maintained high levels of training and effectiveness. Less than a third of the 25,000 MBG sailors served on ships’ crews; the majority worked in support roles on land, guarding MBG bases, monitoring suspicious foreign merchant ships, and surveilling Russian personnel suspected of disloyalty. Today, the Russian Coast Guard oversees far more than the coast, though Russia no longer restricts emigration as severely.
The FSB continues to rely on conscripts for many low-level security roles. As in the Soviet era, being drafted into the FSB is an attractive prospect for young Russian men. Excelling in roles such as guarding nuclear weapons or other critical assets marks individuals as candidates for further opportunities within the security services.
Many Russians are troubled by the FSB’s ultimate purpose. The KGB was known as the Communist Party’s primary protector. The FSB is increasingly seen as the enforcer for wealthy oligarchs who leveraged KGB connections and powers after the Soviet collapse to seize state-owned assets. The current Russian government behaves more and more like the autocratic rulers Russia has endured for centuries. The FSB acts as a palace guard, not as public servants.