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Meet Putin's Top Enabler, FSB Boss Alexander Bortnikov
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Meet Putin's Top Enabler, FSB Boss Alexander Bortnikov

The longtime internal security chief has a major hand in Ukraine intrigue and the liquidation of internal critics alike

Filip Kovacevic's avatar
Filip Kovacevic
Feb 22, 2022
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Meet Putin's Top Enabler, FSB Boss Alexander Bortnikov
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When Vladimir Putin needed another made-up excuse on Monday to seize more of Ukraine in his stiffly staged security council meeting, he turned to Alexandr Bortnikov, the longtime head of Russia’s all-powerful Federal Security Service (FSB).

The former KGB and up-from-the-ranks FSB operative, assembled with other top security officials in the Kremlin’s gr…

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A guest post by
Filip Kovacevic
Filip Kovacevic (@ChekistMonitor) has more than 20 years of university teaching experience in Russia, the Balkans, and the U.S. He specializes in Soviet/Russian intelligence/counterintelligence history & spy fiction.
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