KGB or FSB?

• Author: Richmond, Yale
• Position: Federal Security Service

Text:

Anyone who served in Moscow in the old days will be familiar with the work of the Committee for State Security, commonly known as the KGB, one of whose tasks it was to keep track of foreign diplomats and what they were doing in the Soviet Union. In the new Russia, the KGB has been replaced by the Federal Security Service (FSB), but its functions remain the same, and most Russians still use the old KGB acronym.

American Embassy personnel, as well as their wives, were prime targets for the KGB. Apartments and telephones were bugged, and KGB harassment made working and living conditions difficult. That became especially so in 1986 when all local Russian employees of the American Embassy were withdrawn by the Soviet government in retaliation for the U.S. expulsion of Soviet personnel assigned to the United Nations in New York. All routine housekeeping and administration at the Moscow embassy had to be performed by the American staff, including such non-diplomatic tasks as shoveling snow, loading and unloading trucks, washing floors, and cleaning toilets.

For Americans in Moscow, the KGB was everywhere. It monitored our phone calls in the office and at home, followed some of us around the city and in our travels, staffed many of the Soviet offices where we did official business, and from time to time attempted to entrap us in illegal activities or compromising personal positions.

My wife, for example, was interested in modern art, and made the rounds of artist studios. On two occasions, she was set up for a rendezvous at the apartment of an art dealer, ostensibly to see some interesting paintings, but more likely to become the victim of an entrapment. On both occasions she had the good sense to take me along, which surely disappointed the KGB plotters. I distinctly remember the disappointment on their faces when they saw me enter the room on the heels of my wife.

For another American, his contacts with the KGB were more intimate. He had made the acquaintance of some Russians and had been invited over for a few drinks. The drinks, however, were quite potent, and he passed out. When he awoke and had to go to the bathroom, he found that his underpants were on backwards, presumably for the taking of photographs in flag ante while he was out cold.

Another American diplomat reported a close call. Traveling alone on a train trip from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to Moscow, he was surprised to learn that he was to share his sleeper compartment...