Putin Orders FSB To Find More Spies Among Russians

A key task has been set.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) should step up its work to identify spies and traitors in Russia. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video address on the occasion of Security Service Workers Day.

According to Putin, who worked in the KGB of the USSR for 16 years and ended his career with the rank of lieutenant colonel, the special services were a “faithful and solid support” of the country throughout its “centuries-long history,” having gone through a “glorious and heroic path.”

“The current generation of security service employees carefully preserves and develops the best traditions of their predecessors, achieves new results, acts aggressively, competently and responsibly,” Putin said.

Nevertheless, the country faces “some serious challenges,” and therefore the special services “must seriously improve the quality of their work in all key areas,” the president emphasized. "We must promptly stop the work of foreign intelligence agencies, actively combat those who organize sabotage and terrorist attacks, and identify spies and traitors," Putin said.

He called the fight against terrorism "the key task" that "all intelligence agencies" should work on. In addition, according to the president, "responsible tasks" are facing military counterintelligence agencies, which should act "clearly and systematically" in the troops on the Ukrainian front.

Putin instructed the FSB Border Service to "improve interaction with army," hinting at the situation in the Kursk region, part of which has remained occupied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine since August. In addition, Putin demanded a "decisive fight against extremism," attempts to "weaken the country from within," and also instructed to "more actively and aggressively" combat crimes in the economic sphere.

According to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, spy mania in Russia has already reached a scale unseen since the Soviet era. In 2023, 39 people were convicted under the article "high treason", although before the war the number of such sentences was counted in units per year. In the first 6 months of 2024, the number of people convicted of high treason reached 52 people, exceeding the figure for the same period last year by 250%. The number of sentences for espionage also increased sharply: in the first six months of 2024, 18 people were convicted under this article, which is 9 times more than in the first half of 2023. In addition, two people were sentenced this year for "confidential cooperation with a foreign state" the same number of people convicted under this article for the whole of last year.

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