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Sergey Beseda

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Sergey Beseda
Сергей Беседа
Head of the 5th Service of the FSB - Service of Operational Information and International Relations
Incumbent
Assumed office
2009
Personal details
Born
Sergey Orestovich Beseda

(1954-05-17) 17 May 1954 (age 70)
Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Children2
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 has headed the Fifth Service (Service of Operational Information and International Relations) of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) internal intelligence agency since 2009.

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.[1] On 8 April, Beseda was reportedly transferred to Moscow's Lefortovo Prison,[2] 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.

Early life

Sergey Beseda was born on 17 May 1954.[3]

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.

Chief of FSB Fifth Service (2009)

As of 2009, Beseda headed the FSB Operational Information and International Relations Service (Fifth Service).[4]

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.[5]

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.[6] Beseda asked for a meeting with President Yanukovich on the matter, but the request was rejected.[7] 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.[8]

On 26 July 2014, Beseda was included on the European Union's list of International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[9]

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.[10]

Fall from power and Lefortovo Prison (2022)

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.[11][1][12]

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".[13]

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.[14] Soldatov speculated that Russian authorities may have suspected Beseda of having passed information to the CIA,[15] amid reports afoot that Putin had purged 150 FSB careerists.[14]

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."[16]

Family

Beseda has two sons, Anton and Aleksey.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b Zakir-Hussain, Maryam (13 March 2022). "'Putin's spy chief and his deputy under house arrest'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  2. ^ @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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ Служба оперативной информации и международных связей (Пятая служба) Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Межведомственная комиссия по участию России в «Группе восьми» и «Группе двадцати» [dead link]
  6. ^ ФСБ РФ: ответственный сотрудник ведомства находился в Киеве 20 — 21 февраля
  7. ^ В ФСБ пояснили, что их генерал в Киеве в феврале «определял уровень защиты посольства РФ»
  8. ^ Украина хочет допросить генерала ФСБ, находившегося в Украине 20-21 февраля
  9. ^ Теперь, с учетом пополнения, в санкционных списках ЕС фигурируют в общей сложности 87 физических лиц и 20 юридических лиц
  10. ^ Соглашения, подписанные в ходе визита Путина в Белград Archived 2015-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Russian spy chiefs 'under house arrest' as Putin blames them for Ukraine setbacks". The Independent. 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-04-12.
  13. ^ "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.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ "Дворцы друзей Сергея Чемезова". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
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