Text of Statute on Federal Security Service of Russian Federation and Structure of Federal Security Service Agencies

Approved by Presidential Edict No 960 of 11 August 2003, signed by V. Putin, President of Russian Federation

published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, 15 August 2003

(FBIS Translated Text) 1. The attached Statute on the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and Structure of Federal Security Service Agencies are hereby approved.

2. The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation will be permitted to have two first deputy directors of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, a first deputy director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in charge of the Border Service, a state secretary and deputy director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, a deputy director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, six deputy directors heading departments of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and a deputy director heading the Inspection Directorate of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and to form a collegium with 19 members.

3. The following will no longer be in force:

(Signed)

V. Putin, President of the Russian Federation

The following have been approved by Russian Federation President Edict No 960 of 11 August 2003

Statute on the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation

I. General Provisions

1. The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Russian FSB) is a federal agency of the executive branch of government exercising public administration within the confines of its authority to safeguard the security of the Russian Federation, defend and protect the state borders of the Russian Federation (hereafter referred to as the state border), protect internal waterways, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation and their natural resources, safeguard the information security of the Russian Federation and the main areas of activity of agencies of the Federal Security Service as defined in laws of the Russian Federation, and coordinate the counterintelligence operations of federal agencies of the executive branch of government authorized to conduct them.

2. The Russian FSB will be guided in its work by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, federal laws, edicts and directives of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees and directives of the Government of the Russian Federation, international treaties of the Russian Federation, and this Statute.

3. The President of the Russian Federation will direct the activities of the Russian FSB and approve the Statute on the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation and the Structure of Federal Security Service Agencies in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, and federal laws.

The Government of the Russian Federation will coordinate the elements of Russian FSB activity requiring interaction by the Russian FSB with federal agencies of the executive branch of government in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, federal laws, and edicts and directives of the President of the Russian Federation.

4. The work of the Russian FSB will be based on the principles of legality, the centralized management of Federal Security Service agencies and the border troops (hereafter referred to as subsidiary agencies and troops), respect for human and civil rights and liberties and the observance of these rights and liberties, humanism, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states and the inviolability of their borders, the peaceful resolution of border disputes, mutually beneficial cooperation with authorized agencies of foreign states, confidentiality, and a combination of overt and covert methods and means of operation.

5. To secure the performance of the assigned duties of subsidiary agencies and troops and to support their activity, the Russian FSB will follow the established procedure for the creation of structural subdivisions of the Russian FSB, territorial security agencies, security agencies in the troops, border agencies, other security agencies, subdivisions, and organizations needed for the performance of the duties assigned to the subsidiary agencies and troops by federal law, special training centers, aviation subdivisions, and subdivisions for special purposes.

6. The Academy of Cryptography of the Russian Federation will operate as an arm of the Russian FSB.

7. The Russian FSB will be a corporate body with actual and fictitious titles, an official emblem, a stamp depicting the official arms of the Russian Federation and its own name, and the appropriate variety of seals, letterheads, and accounts, including foreign currency accounts, in banks and other lending institutions.

II. Fundamental Objectives of Russian FSB

8. The fundamental objectives of the Russian FSB will be the following:

III. Functions of Russian FSB

9. The Russian FSB will perform the following functions for the attainment of its main objectives:

IV. Organization of Russian FSB Activity

10. The Russian FSB will be headed by the director of the Russian FSB, appointed to this office and removed from it by the President of the Russian Federation.

11. The director of the Russian FSB will do the following:

12. The Russian FSB will have a collegium made up of the director of the Russian FSB (the collegium chairman), the deputy directors ex officio, and administrative personnel of the subsidiary agencies and troops.

13. The number of members and the composition of the Russian FSB collegium, with the exception of the ex officio members, will be approved by the President of the Russian Federation.

The Russian FSB collegium will discuss the most important aspects of the activities of subsidiary agencies and troops at its meetings and make decisions on them.

Decisions of the Russian FSB collegium must be approved by a majority of its members and recorded in orders of the Russian FSB.

In the event of disagreements between the director of the Russian FSB and the collegium, the director of the Russian FSB will make the final decision and report the differences of opinion to the President of the Russian Federation. The members of the Russian FSB collegium may also communicate their opinions to the President of the Russian Federation.

Decisions made at joint meetings of the Russian FSB collegium and other federal agencies of the executive branch of government will be recorded in joint orders of the Russian FSB and the pertinent federal agencies of the executive branch of government.

Structure of Federal Security Service Agencies

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (Russian FSB) is made up of departments, directorates, and other subdivisions working directly in the operational fields of agencies of the Federal Security Service, as well as subdivisions performing directive functions.

The directorates (or divisions) of the Russian FSB for separate regions and components of the Russian Federation (the territorial security agencies)

The directorates (or divisions) of the Russian FSB in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and military formations, and their command and control agencies (the security agencies in the troops)

The directorates (or detachments and divisions) of the Russian FSB for the border service (the border agencies)

Other directorates (or divisions) of the Russian FSB exercising various powers of the Russian FSB or supporting the activity of agencies of the Federal Security Service and border troops (the other security agencies)

Aviation subdivisions, special training centers, special-purpose subdivisions, enterprises, academic institutions, scientific research, expert analysis, forensic, military-medical, and military-construction subdivisions, and other establishments and subdivisions supporting the activities of the Federal Security Service.

(Description of Source: Moscow Rossiyskaya Gazeta in Russian -- Government daily newspaper.)