Military stations | Utlility round-up | Intelligence profile : Russian Federation
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(Date: October 2009)
Voice stations | Morse
stations | Various modes
Military stations | Utlility
round-up | Intelligence profile :
Russian Federation
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Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.
| Long name | : | Rossiyskaya Federatsiya (Russian Federation) |
| Short name | : | Rossiya (Russia) |
| Capital | : | Moscow |
| Administrative divisions | : | |
| Note | : | administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) |
| 46 oblasts | : | Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk , Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'. |
| 21 republics | : | Adygeya (Maykop), Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashiya (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Ingushetiya (Magas), Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik), Kalmykiya (Elista), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk), Kareliya (Petrozavodsk), Khakasiya (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordoviya (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tyva (Kyzyl), Udmurtiya (Izhevsk). |
| 4 autonomous okrugs | : | Chukotka (Anadyr'), Khanty-Mansi (Khanty-Mansiysk), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard). |
| 9 krays | : | Altay (Barnaul), Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm', Primorskiy [Maritime] (Vladivostok), Stavropol', Zabaykal'sk (Chita). |
| 2 federal cities | : | Moscow (Moskva), Saint Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg). |
| 1 autonomous oblast | : | Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan). |
| Geographic coordinates | : | 55 45 N, 37 35 E |
| Time difference | : | UTC+3. Russia is divided into 11 time zones. |
Ground Forces (Sukhoputnyye Voyskia, SV), Navy (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot, VMF), Air Forces (Voyenno-Vozdushniye Sily, VVS); Airborne Troops (VDV), Strategic Rocket Forces (Raketnyye Voyska Strategicheskogo Naznacheniya, RVSN), and Space Troops (Kosmicheskiye Voyska, KV) are independent "combat arms," not subordinate to any of the three branches; Russian Ground Forces include the following combat arms: motorized-rifle troops, tank troops, missile and artillery troops, air defense of ground troops (2009)
The Special Services in the Russian Federation are controlled by various high ranking governmental bodies.
The Russian Federation has various bodies that are responsible for collecting and processing intelligence and counter-intelligence information.
The Council was established by Presidential decree No.547, dated June 03, 1992.
The council consists of the following departments and commissions.
Departments:
Interdepartmental commissions of the Security Council:
The SVR was formed by a President decree on 18 December and is the successor of the well known KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti - Committee for State Security).
The SVR is Russia's primary external intelligence agency and is responsible for intelligence and espionage activities outside the Russian Federation. It works in cooperation with the Russian military intelligence organization GRU. The Russian Federation President can personally issue any secret orders for the SVR, without asking the State Duma and Federation Council.
A new "Law on Foreign Intelligence Organs" was passed by the State Duma and the Federation Council in late 1995 and signed into effect by President Boris Yeltsin on 10 January 1996. The law authorizes the SVR to carry out the following:
Departments:
GRU or Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije is the acronym for the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
The GRU is Russia's largest intelligence agency. It deploys six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR. Military intelligence has existed under various names since 21 October 1918. This service remains to be the most secret Russian special service. The structure after the Soviet days is a state secret. The structure mentioned hereafter was based on Viktor Suvorov's book and publications in the press.
The chief of the GRU is subordinate only to the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense and has no direct connection to the political leadership of the country. On 28 August 2001 Nezavisimaya Gazeta published an article in which it stated that the Minister of Defense had decided to replace the heads of six of the 12 subunits of the GRU with officials from the SVR. One of the SVR generals became head of communications intelligence, which controled SIGINT sites in Cuba, Vietnam, and several other countries. The restructuring affected several key subunits such as a Main Directorate, the Personnel Directorate, and the Organization-Mobilization Directorate.
In spite of numerous reorganizations, reconstruction, personnel "wars" and scandals that have shaken Russian counter-intelligence for ten years the FSB is still the most powerful Russian special service.
The FSB is the main domestic security service of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet-era Cheka, NKVD, and KGB. The FSB is involved in counter-intelligence, internal and border security, surveillance, and counter-terrorism. Its headquarters are on Lubyanka Square, downtown Moscow, the same location as the former headquarters of the KGB. The service was formerly known as the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK).
The main tasks of the FSB are: Counter-Intelligence; Counter-terrorism; Anti-corruption and organized crime; Border protection; Export control
Structure (incomplete)
| 1. | Counterintelligence Service (SKR) | ||
| The Directorate of Coordination and Analysis of Counterintelligence Activity | |||
| The Directorate of Counterintelligence at Facilities | |||
| The Directorate of Information Support to Operational Detective Activity | |||
| The Department of Military Counterintelligence | |||
| 2. | Service to Protect the Constitutional System and Combat Terrorism (SZKSiBT) | ||
| Directorate to Combat Terrorism and Political Extremism (UBTPEh) | |||
| Antiterrorist Center/Special Center | |||
| Directorate to Combat International Terrorism (UBMT) | |||
| Operational Detective Directorate (ORU) | |||
| 3. | Border Service | ||
| 4. | Economic Security Service (SEhB) | ||
| Directorate of Counterintelligence Support to the | |||
| Industrial Enterprises (Directorate P) | |||
| Transportation (Directorate T) | |||
| Financial System (Directorate K) | |||
| MVD, MChS [Ministry of Emergency Situations], and Ministry of Justice | |||
| (Directorate M) Organizational Analysis Directorate | |||
| Directorate to Combat Contraband and Illegal Drug Trafficking | |||
| Administrative Service | |||
| 5. | Current Information and International Relations Service (formerly Service for Analysis, Forecasting, and Strategic Planning) | ||
| Analysis Directorate | |||
| Directorate for the Coordination of Current Information (UKOI) | |||
| Strategic Planning Directorate | |||
| Department of Unclassified Information | |||
| Directorate of International Cooperation | |||
| 6. | Organizational and Personnel Service Department | ||
| Directorate of Special Registrations | |||
| Organizational Planning Directorate | |||
| Personnel Directorate | |||
| 7. | Oversight Service | ||
| Inspection Directorate | |||
| Auditing Directorate | |||
| Directorate of Internal Security | |||
| 8. | Science and Engineering Service Department | ||
| Directorate of Weapons, Military and Special Equipment Trade | |||
| Directorate of Operational Technical Measures (UOTM) | |||
| Scientific Research Institute of Information Technologies | |||
| Scientific Research Center | |||
| 9. | Activity Support Service | ||
| Finance and Economics Directorate | |||
| Directorate of Material and Technical Support (UMTO) | |||
| Directorate of Capital Construction | |||
A large number of subdivisions are also directly subordinate to FSB's HQ. Besides the services (departments) and directorates of the federal office, the territorial directorates of the FSB are also subordinate to it.
The State Technical Commission protects Russia's state secrets from foreign intelligence services. It is not an intelligence service in the customarily accepted sense of the word. It was created as a permanent body responsible for the protection of state secret and official information, for preventing its loss through technical channels, and for counteracting foreign technical intelligence services on operations in Russia.
The Federal Protective Service (FSO) is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several high-ranking state officials, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties.
GUSP is according to the newspapers a secret organization that is responsible for peacetime operation, maintenance, and security of a network of leadership bunkers designed for reliable continuity of government operations during wartime and national emergencies.
FAPSI is an exceptionally closed service specialized in Signals intelligence (SIGINT), communications intelligence (COMINT) and electronic intelligence (ELINT)operations. FAPSI must be the most battle-seasoned Russian special service. Unlike FSB it has not been subject to constant reconstruction and reorganization. Very few people realize that the number of FAPSI officers exceeds that of the FSB and SVR.
FAPSI provides Russia with so-called "special information" which is obtained by electronic intelligence methods. The agency operates a HF and satellite network, for both SIGINT purposes and transmission of government and intelligence traffic. FAPSI works closely together with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence organization, sharing SIGINT facilities around the world, including those located in embassies and consulates.
Russia had large SIGINT facilities in Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnam), Skrunda (Latvia), and Lourdes (Cuba) and an ultra secret GRU-FAPSI station at Ramona in North Korea. They were all closed in the late 1990's. The FAPSI-GRU surveillance facility at the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen’s Ras Karma Military Airbase is reportedly still being used by the Russians.
The other significant source of SIGINT and ELINT is that captured by aerial and sea assets. The old, but highly effective Tupolev Tu-142M-Z "Bear" – the Beriev A-50 "Mainstay" and the IL-38 "May" surveillance planes operate from bases in Syria. Al Anad Air Base and Khormaksar International Airport in South Yemen, and San Antonio de Los Banos and Jose MArti airbase in Cuba. While at sea a fleet of Russian Navy "spy trawlers" - Electronic Surveillance Ships or AGI (Auxiliary General Intelligence) SIGINT intelligence collection ships roam the seas wherever Russian federation interest are concerned.
FAPSI developed the protected, Specialpurpose Federal Information and Telecommunications System (SFITS or ITCS) for state administrative agency communications. SFITS/ITCS will link most federal agencies, and include technical and administrative documents, government directives and legal information from both the executive and legislative branches of government. The telecommunications component of the SFITS/ITCS is the Russian Integrated State System of Confidential Communications [RISSCC]. The Atlas protected data transmission network was developed as a matter of priority and is now functioning with the aim of forming the nucleus of the RISSCC. A transport component was developed during the deployment of the Atlas packet switching data network [PSDN], ensuring the transmission of documentary information between the administrative centers of the Russian Federation components. Terminals set up in the supreme state organs ensure the exchange of classified information, and the technical questions involved in ensuring the interaction of this network with other communications networks, including Infotel, Relcom, and Rosnet, were resolved.
In 1994 it bought major Russian internet provider of that time RELCOM. According to their explanation they were not interested in interception of the network traffic, but in Internet experience of the firm and in utilization of "FAPSI's excess computing power and network bandwidth". Since 1998 they require that all Internet providers in Russia install their hardware named SORM, System of Operative Investigative Actions) that allows filtering and remote control of internet traffic from FAPSI headquarters. Internet providers must pay for the devices directly to FAPSI. Despite the original resistance of Internet providers they eventually complied. FAPSI is empowered to monitor and register all electronic financial and securities transactions and to monitor other electronic communications, including private Internet access. The agency also registers securities transactions on the financial market. A Presidental decree required commercial banks compliance in their dealings with the Central Bank of Russia. FAPSI was authorized to monitor, register, and record all electronic financial transactions in the country, and to require banks and other financial institutions to pay for the service. The money FAPSI raised was to be divided between FAPSI and a special Fund of the President's Programs. FAPSI is a major investors in the Relcom Joint-Stock Company, which controls Russia's largest electronic mail network handling telecommunications projects for the Russian Central Bank, the Finance Ministry, and the Defense Ministry.
The 1995 Decree restricts the use of encryption software to only those programs approved by FAPSI. For a company in Russia to use encryption it must be pre- registered with FAPSI. To register with FAPSI, users are required to assess the degree of confidentiality needed. The decree provided no indication as to what methods of encryption (if any) are authorized by FAPSI, and users must consult the encryption providers who can only discuss encryption upon gaining clearance from the FAPSI registration authorities. The Decree also instructed the Russian Federation Customs Committee to ban the import of any "encryption facilities" which lack a FAPSI approved licence.
The intelligence agencies of the Warsaw Pact countries formed a single system which operated under the name Interlinked System for Recognizing Enemies (SOUD). SOUD was an organization that provided databases which were accessible by member agencies, and operated radio communications channels to support this access. The members of SOUD were the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland and Vietnam. Founded in 1977, SOUD became fully operational in 1979. The initial rationale for the foundation of SOUD was the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. The initial task for SOUD was to gather and store information about potential foreign hostile forces that might create problems for the USSR during the Olympics. SOUD gathered information on everyone and everything - including their own and foreign embassy personnel. SOUD databanks included files on agents, hostile organizations, journalists, diplomats, cultural and commercial attaches, representatives of airlines, and just about anyone or anything else that potentially qualified as a threat to the Soviet system.
The SOUD headquarters was in Moscow, with a master radio transmission station just outside Moscow. SOUD units were based either on the premises of Russian embassies and/or in separate installations. The organization's central computer was located in Moscow, and queries from members were said to be handled in less than 4 hours time. Another main computer center was in East Germany, and a major radio transmission facility was located in Cuba. Part of the message traffic carried on SOUD transmission channels consisted of intelligence and military related material, but most of the traffic was and is standard Russian embassy traffic.
After East and West Germany reunited, the SOUD node and the Stasi archives were soon in the hands of the BND, the West German intelligence agency. SOUD remained operational for a few years as a Russian enterprise, possibly with the participation of a few states such as Vietnam and Cuba. As of 1996 the SOUD liasion network was certainly a thing of the past, although the communications infrastructure continued to be utilized by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SVR, transmitted by FAPSI.
The Russians have quite a lot of stations that transmit coded messages. Like all numbers station it's hard to find out if they are actually related to espionage activities. Some most probably are, some are linked to governmental communications (embassy traffic etc), but I guess that the majority of the stations are military stations, either GRU related or just plain military activity (tactical nets etc). Most of them don't have a specific Enigma code but can be cataloged under former Enigma code M32.
The majority of the information used in this profile originates from Agentura in Russia and is reprinted in "Numbers & Oddities" with kind permission of their editor Andrei Soldatov. Thanks again Andrei!!!
Agentura.Ru is an Russian website founded in 2000 as internet community of journalists who cover terrorism, intelligence agencies. Agentura.Ru is considered one of most respectable sources on Russian secret services.
| Another link of interest : http://svr.gov.ru. |
Voice stations | Morse
stations | Various modes
Military stations | Utlility
round-up | Intelligence profile :
Russian Federation
Chinese numbers stations update | Logs
Index | NS NL Home