Sergey Beseda

Sergey Beseda
Сергей Беседа
Head of the 5th Service of the FSB - Service of Operational Information and International Relations
In office
2009–2024
Preceded byViktor Komogorov[1]
Succeeded byAleksey Komkov
Personal details
Born
Sergey Orestovich Beseda

(1954-05-17) 17 May 1954 (age 70)
Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Children3 sons
Military service
Allegiance Russia
Branch/serviceFederal Security Service
RankColonel General

Sergey Orestovich Beseda (Russian: Сергей Орестович Беседа; born on 17 May 1954) is a Russian politician, Colonel General and government agent who headed the Fifth Service (Service of Operational Information and International Relations) of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) internal intelligence agency from 2009 to June 2024.[2]

In March 2022, during the first month of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, international media reported that Beseda was being held under house arrest as a consequence of giving Russian President Vladimir Putin erroneous intelligence on unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance to the invasion.[3] On 8 April, Beseda was reportedly transferred to Moscow's Lefortovo Prison,[4] but Russian authorities provided no official confirmation of any of these events and in August The Washington Post cast doubt on reports that Beseda had been removed from his leadership role at the FSB. He finally left office in the summer of 2024, when he became advisor to the Director of the FSB.

Early life

Sergey Beseda was born on 17 May 1954.[5]

Career

In 2003, Beseda was named FSB Deputy Head of Department - Head of the Directorate for Coordination of Operational Information of the Department of Analysis, Forecast and Strategic Planning. The following year, he became Deputy Head of Service - Head of the Operational Information Department of the Forecast Analysis and Strategic Planning Service.

Chiefship of the FSB Fifth Service

In 2009, Beseda became the chief FSB Operational Information and International Relations Service (Fifth Service), formally replacing Viktor Komogorov in January 2010.[6]

On 4 March 2010, when the Russian Interdepartmental Commission on the country's participation in the G8 was transformed into the Interdepartmental Commission on Russia's participation in both the G8 and G20, Beseda was included in the commission as representative of the FSB.[7]

On the ground in Ukraine (2014)

On 20 and 21 February 2014, during the Ukrainian Maidan Revolution and shortly before the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych, Beseda was in Kyiv and in contact with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), officially tasked with determining the required level of protection for the Russian Embassy and other Russian institutions in the capital.[8] Beseda asked for a meeting with President Yanukovich on the matter, but the request was rejected.[9] On 4 April, during pre-trial investigation of the numerous killings of Ukrainian protesters in Kyiv from 18 to 22 February, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked Russia to clarify the circumstances of Beseda's stay in Ukraine.[10]

On 6 October 2014, Beseda signed an agreement on the mutual protection of classified information with Goran Matić, Director of Serbia's National Security Council and the Protection of Secret Information.[11]

Sanctions

On 26 July 2014, Beseda was included on the European Union's list of International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[12]

Sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to Russo-Ukrainian War.[13]

Reports of arrest

Amid President Putin's discontent with intelligence failures over the invasion of Ukraine which began on 24 February 2022, on 11 March investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov reported that Beseda and his deputy Anatoly Bolyukh were under house arrest.[14][3][15]

As of 18 March, the Russian embassy had not responded to requests for comment on the report, but a U.S. official interviewed by The Wall Street Journal described the arrest report as "credible".[16]

On 11 April, The Times of London reported that Beseda had been transferred to the infamous Lefortovo Prison, scene of mass executions during Stalin's purges.[17] Soldatov speculated that Russian authorities suspected Beseda of having passed information to the CIA,[18] amid reports afoot that Putin had purged 150 FSB careerists.[17]

On 19 August, however, The Washington Post said that U.S. and other intelligence communities doubted that Beseda had been demoted or imprisoned, quoting "a senior US official" as saying, "We have pretty good reason to believe that he’s still in the job."[19]

In January 2023, he was seen in Moscow at a public event, and is believed to have been likely released from house arrest.[20][21]

On 11 October 2023, according to the message of the head of the State Government Kyrylo Budanov, "Beseda continues to perform his official duties."[22]

Prisoner exchange

Prior to June 2024, Sergey Beseda headed the Russian side of the negotiations that later led to the 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange; however, in June 2024, Vladimir Putin replaced Beseda with Aleksey Komkov.[2][a] The Vice President of Germany's BND Philipp Wolff[b] also joined the negotiations at this time.[2]

Family

Beseda has three sons, Anton, Aleksey,[c] and Aleksandr.[33][34]

Notes

  1. ^ Alexey Komkov (Russian: Алексей Комков) was the head of the FSB Internal Security Directorate from September 2016 after the 8 July 2016 resignation of the former head of the FSB Internal Security Directorate Sergey Borisovich Korolev, which vacated the chair of Korolev in the CSS, because Korolev was promoted to the post of head of the Economic Security Service of the FSB of Russia. Alexey Komkov headed the FSB Internal Security Directorate until 2018 when he was transferred to the FSB Counterintelligence Service. Komkov is a protégé of Sergey Korolev[23][24][25][26]
  2. ^ Philipp Wolff (born 1972, Gräfelfing) was the Vice President for Central Tasks (German: Vizepräsident für zentrale Aufgaben) of Germany's BND since 1 November 2022 when he replaced Michael Baumann after the BND restructured during 2022.[2][27][28]
  3. ^ Aleksey Beseda (born 1983 or 1984) was the general director of ZAO Business Sphere (Russian: ЗАО «Бизнес сфера») from 2008 to 2009 and, in January 2013, became a member of the board of directors of OJSC AvtoVAZagregat (Russian: ОАО «АвтоВАЗагрегат») which is a major supplier to AvtoVAZ. The firm "Business Sphere" has the same phone number as Coalco which is associated with Vasily Anisimov. In 2013, the Coalco telephone secretary confirmed that Beseda was the former head of "Business Sphere". In 2013, he owned a plot at Akulinino which is, similar to Rublyovka, an elitist enclave of 18,000 hectares (44,000 acres) located 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Moscow on Kashirskoye Highway (Russian: Каширское шоссе).[29][30][31][32]

References

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  2. ^ a b c d "Россия обменяла политзаключенных на шпионов. Среди освобожденных: Кара-Мурза, Гершкович, Яшин, Курмашева, Скочиленко, Чанышева и другие" [Russia exchanged political prisoners for spies. Among those released: Kara-Murza, Gershkovich, Yashin, Kurmasheva, Skochilenko, Chanysheva and others]. The Insider (theins.ru) (in Russian). 1 August 2024. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  3. ^ a b Zakir-Hussain, Maryam (13 March 2022). "'Putin's spy chief and his deputy under house arrest'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  4. ^ @AndreiSoldatov (8 April 2022). "Some update about general Sergey Beseda, head of the Fifth service of the FSB, placed under house arrest in March:…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 of 17 March 2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine". Retrieved 2022-04-25.
  6. ^ "Структура ФСБ". 2010-01-26. Archived from the original on 2010-01-26. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  7. ^ Межведомственная комиссия по участию России в «Группе восьми» и «Группе двадцати» [dead link‍]
  8. ^ ФСБ РФ: ответственный сотрудник ведомства находился в Киеве 20 — 21 февраля
  9. ^ В ФСБ пояснили, что их генерал в Киеве в феврале «определял уровень защиты посольства РФ»
  10. ^ Украина хочет допросить генерала ФСБ, находившегося в Украине 20-21 февраля
  11. ^ Соглашения, подписанные в ходе визита Путина в Белград Archived 2015-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Теперь, с учетом пополнения, в санкционных списках ЕС фигурируют в общей сложности 87 физических лиц и 20 юридических лиц
  13. ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  14. ^ Ball, Tom; Brown, Larisa (12 March 2022). "Kremlin arrests FSB chiefs in fallout from Ukraine chaos". The Times. Retrieved 12 March 2022. A Russian spy chief is said to have been placed under house arrest in a sign that President Putin is seeking to blame the security services for the stalled invasion of Ukraine.
  15. ^ "Russian spy chiefs 'under house arrest' as Putin blames them for Ukraine setbacks". The Independent. 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  16. ^ "Reported Detention of Russian Spy Boss Shows Tension Over Stalled Ukraine Invasion, U.S. Officials Say". The Wall Street Journal. March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022. A U.S. official described as credible reports that the commander of the FSB intelligence agency's unit responsible for Ukraine had been placed under house arrest. The official, in an interview, also said bickering had broken out between the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Defense, two of the principal government units responsible for the preparation of the Feb. 24 invasion.
  17. ^ a b Ball, Tom (2022-04-11). "Putin 'purges' 150 FSB agents in response to Russia's botched war with Ukraine". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  18. ^ Porter, Tom (2022-04-08). "A senior Russian official was sent to a notorious Moscow jail in retribution for poor Ukraine intel, expert says". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  19. ^ "Russia's spies misread Ukraine and misled Kremlin as war loomed". The Washington Post. 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022. Early reports that Beseda, responsible for the FSB's Ukraine directorate, had been demoted or even imprisoned are viewed skeptically by U.S. and other intelligence officials, who say they have seen no information to suggest that any of Russia's spy chiefs has faced such consequences.
  20. ^ martpork (2023-06-08). "How the War Affected the Russian Security Services". ICDS. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  21. ^ Miller, Christopher; Seddon, Max; Schwartz, Felicia (2023-02-23). "How Putin blundered into Ukraine — then doubled down". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  22. ^ "Российский генерал Беседа, который натворил много зла: кто он и чем вредил Украине". KP.UA (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-11-13.
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  24. ^ Стогней, Анастасия (Stogney, Anastasia); Малкова, Ирина (Malkova, Irina) (31 July 2019). "«Коммерческие ребята»: как ФСБ крышует российские банки" ["Commercial Guys": How the FSB Protects Russian Banks]. The Bell (thebell.io) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Романова, Анна (Romanova, Anna); Корбал, Борис (Korbal, Boris) (4 December 2017). "Конец спецназа Сечина: «Дело Улюкаева» стало последней разработкой еще вчера могущественного генерала ФСБ Олега Феоктистова. Члены его команды покидают Лубянку, а иные отправляются в СИЗО и даже в бега" [The End of Sechin's Special Forces: The "Ulyukaev case" was the latest development of the powerful FSB General Oleg Feoktistov yesterday. Members of his team leave the Lubyanka, and some go to jail and even go on the run]. «Новые Времена» (NewTimes.ru). Archived from the original on 24 September 2024. Retrieved 24 September 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Сухотин, Андрей (Sukhotin, Andrey) (21 June 2019). "Серые начинают и выигрывают: Как в своей междоусобной войне силовики использовали чиновников, полицию, разгневанных журналистов и самого Ивана Голунова. Версия Андрея Сухотина" [he Greys start and win: How in their internecine war the security forces used officials, police, angry journalists and Ivan Golunov himself. Andrey Sukhotin's version]. «Новая газета» (novayagazeta.ru) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Hufelschulte, Josef (16 August 2024). "Brisante Details: CIA wollte deutsche Behörden nicht bei Gefangenen-Austausch dabeihaben" [Explosive details: CIA did not want German authorities to be involved in prisoner exchange]. FOCUS Online (focus.de) (in German). Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  28. ^ Feldmann, Marco (5 April 2022). "BND mit neuer Organisation" [BND with new organization]. Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
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