Intel reorganization

High-ranking Kremlin official dismisses media report of planned ‘KGB revival’

Former head of the Russian presidential administration Sergey Ivanov says media reports about plans to merge all of the country’s security agencies into one are untrue and most likely a hoax concocted by reporters to boost their popularity.

“I can say with all certainty – this is a classic example of an invented fake that was first launched and then discussed at length. This is what I call making news when they have no real news,” Ivanov said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper when reporters asked him about the allegations made by popular business daily Kommersant in mid-September.

Back then, Kommersant predicted that before the presidential elections in 2018 Russia will get a new Ministry for State Security, or MGB – an agency uniting the currently independent Federal Security Committee (FSB), Federal Bodyguard Service (FSO) and Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).