Agentura Web Site

[Matthew M. Aid]

I agree with Mr. Compton's description of the new website =
www.agentura.ru. This site is full of very interesting and useful =
material about the Russian intelligence services, as well as the =
services of all of the republics that formerly comprised the Soviet =
Union.=20

For example, the section on the Russian cryptologic organization FAPSI =
contains a great deal of unique information that has not been published =
in the West before, such as biographical portraits of FAPSI's past and =
present director generals, detailed histories of FAPSI and each of its =
directorates going back to CHEKA days, organization and functions data, =
and the site does not shy away from discussing in detail the corruption =
that has reared its ugly head within the Russian intelligence community. =
FAPSI's former head of finance was sent to prison for stealing $7 =
million from the organization and putting the money in overseas bank =
accounts. At the back of each section are attached copies of pertinent =
presidential decrees or government statutes pertaining to each =
organization, as well as a host of newspaper articles from the Russian =
press. =20

Overall, this is by far the best source for hard information about the =
Russian intelligence services that I know of. The site benefits from the =
expertise of Andrei Soldatov, the site's editor-in-chief, who is a =
longtime journalist with the Moscow newspaper Segodnya, where he has =
specialized in writing on intelligence matters.=20

Most of Agentura is in Russian, but hopefully more of the site will be =
translated into English in the near future.

Matthew M. Aid



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