On December 24, 1991, in accordance with the decree of President Boris Yeltsin, the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information under the President of the Russian Federation (abbreviated as FAPSI) was created. From that time until 2003, for over eleven years, this special service ensured the security of information and government communications of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, on December 24, a past holiday, the FAPSI Day, was also celebrated. In early 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that provided for the abolition of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information under the President of the Russian Federation. FAPSI functions were transferred to three other Russian special services - the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the Federal Security Service (FSO). Nevertheless, although FAPSI has not been there for 12 years, one should not forget about the agency's existence, because this is a rather interesting page in the history of the domestic special services, which fell on the "dashing nineties", which were not easy for the country.
In the modern information society, the issues of information protection, ensuring special communication between government agencies and the head of state, play an important role in the overall system of national security. Accordingly, since the development of communication systems, the need arose for the existence of a special structure that could effectively provide both the protection of transmitted information and the interception of information from the enemy (or potential enemy). The history of Russian government communications goes back to the Soviet era. Formed in 1991, the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information became the successor to the Committee for Government Communications under the President of the RSFSR, which, in turn, arose after the termination of the existence of the USSR State Security Committee (KGB of the USSR) and included in its structure the departments and departments of the KGB responsible for government communications, encryption and decryption, electronic intelligence.
From the Special Department to Glavka
Back in May 1921, by the Decree of the Small Council of People's Commissars, a Special Department of the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission) was created - the country's cryptographic service. It was headed by Gleb Bokiy (1879-1937) - a famous Bolshevik with pre-revolutionary experience, a participant in the October armed uprising in Petrograd and a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee. Despite the fact that the unit headed by Gleb Bokiy was part of the Cheka, in fact it was autonomous and subordinate directly to the Central Committee of the RCP (b). The autonomy of the Special Department was explained by the highly important and secret tasks that it performed. Naturally, the Soviet leaders approached very carefully also in the selection of the personnel of the Special Department. By the way, in its work the department relied on the studied experience of the special services of the Russian Empire, as well as foreign special services. Specialists for the new department were trained on special six-month courses, but, nevertheless, at the beginning of its existence, the department experienced a significant shortage of qualified personnel.
In 1925, Gleb Bokiy was able to take the post of deputy chairman of the OGPU. Under his leadership, effective activities in cryptography and radio intelligence were organized, and in 1927 a radio direction-finding station was created, from which the naval radio intelligence of the Soviet Union originates. In 1929, the OGPU government communications department was created, and in 1930 the first high-frequency communication lines Moscow - Leningrad and Moscow - Kharkov began to function. In the next year, 1931, in accordance with the Order of the OGPU No. 308/183 of June 10, 1931, the 5th department of the Operations Department of the OGPU was created, whose competence included the operation of intercity government telephone communications. The thirties became the time of laying the foundations of the domestic system of government communications.
In fact, it was during this period that the foundation was laid for the most powerful system of government communication, encryption and decryption that existed in the Soviet Union and then inherited by post-Soviet Russia. It was in the 1930s that the construction of trunk overhead communication lines began to meet the needs of long-distance government high-frequency communications. In 1935, the technical communications department of the Commandant's Office of the Moscow Kremlin was formed, and in the next 1936, the communications department of the Main Security Directorate (GUO) of the NKVD of the USSR and the communications department of the Economic Directorate (HOZU) of the NKVD of the USSR were formed. The main task of government communications in the 1930s. protection of information from direct eavesdropping has become - with the help of speech masking devices. The first domestic automatic long-distance telephone exchange (AMTS) was developed and manufactured for high-frequency communication.
The years of the Great Patriotic War became a serious test for the structures responsible for encryption and decryption, for ensuring the protection of information. The subdivisions of government communications were assigned serious tasks to ensure communication between the government, the command of the fronts, and the formations of the Red Army. In February 1943, to ensure the tasks of maintaining and protecting high-frequency communications, government communications troops were created. The first commander of the troops, who remained in his post for sixteen years - until August 1959, was Pavel Fedorovich Uglovsky (1902-1975). In the past, the telegraph operator of the railway station, Pavel Uglovsky in 1924 was drafted into the ranks of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, and as a person with a telegraph operator's education and work experience, he was sent to the signal troops. In 1925, Uglovsky graduated from military pigeon breeding courses, became the head of an experimental military pigeon breeding station as part of the border district of the GPU of the Byelorussian SSR. Then Pavel Fedorovich continued his education, completing courses at the Kiev Military School of Communications and academic advanced training courses for technical staff at the Leningrad Military Electrotechnical Academy. He served as the head of the technical department of the Moscow border school of communication of the NKVD of the USSR, and in 1937 he headed the department of the communication department, and then the communication department of the Main Directorate of the border troops of the NKVD of the USSR. In January 1943, Uglovsky was put at the head of the Soviet government communications troops. In 1944 he was awarded the military rank of Lieutenant General of the Signal Corps. Under the command of General Uglovsky, the government communications troops passed the combat path with honor during the Great Patriotic War. As Marshal of the Soviet Union K. K. Rokossovsky, “the use of government communications during the war years revolutionized the command and control of troops” (Quoted from:
In the postwar years, the development of the government communications troops and government communications, encryption and decryption agencies of the USSR reached a new level. Technical means were improved, new equipment for communication and information protection was launched, innovative methods of organizing the service were developed. Government communications have become autonomous from the public communications network. After the creation of the USSR State Security Committee, profile departments responsible for information security were created within it. These included the Eighth Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, which was responsible for encryption, decryption and government communications, and (since 1973) the Sixteenth Directorate, which was responsible for conducting electronic intelligence, decryption work and radio interception. In the composition of the troops of the KGB of the USSR were the troops of government communications, subordinate to the Eighth Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, and parts of radio intelligence and radio interception, subordinate to the Sixteenth Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. Naturally, the new level of development of government communications and information protection required the improvement of the training system for the personnel of government communications agencies and troops. For this purpose, in Bagrationovka, Kaliningrad Region, on September 27, 1965, on the basis of the military camp of the 95th border detachment and the first corps of the Higher Border Command School, the Military Technical School of the KGB of the USSR was created with a three-year training period. The school began to produce officers for the government communications troops of the KGB of the USSR. On September 1, 1966, the educational process began at the school. On October 1, 1972, the school was transferred to the city of Oryol and transformed into the Oryol Higher Military Command School of Communications (OVVKUS), in which the training of officers with higher education for the government communications troops began. Until 1993, the school trained officers on a four-year program.
The history of Soviet special communications during the Cold War is the story of a desperate and virtually unknown to society confrontation in the field of information intelligence and information protection. The secret services of the opponents of the Soviet Union and the KGB of the USSR acted with varying success, and the acts of traitors and defectors remained a serious problem for the Soviet Union. Thus, the well-known successes of Soviet intelligence in the study of the secrets of Western special services were put under attack in October 1979. During a business trip to Poland, 33-year-old Major Viktor Sheimov, who served in the encryption communication protection department of the 8th Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, on his own initiative established contact with American intelligence officers. Returning to the Soviet Union, Major Sheimov met several times with representatives of the CIA station, to whom he conveyed information about his work. Then Sheimov, with his wife Olga and young daughter, managed to secretly leave the Soviet Union and leave for the United States, using the help of the American special services. Thanks to the information received from Sheimov, American electronic intelligence in the FRG was able to organize in April 1981 an operation to organize wiretapping of the cars of the Soviet military attaché and his assistants working in the FRG. The chassis of the cars, which were produced at the Opel plant, were equipped with equipment that could not be detected without destroying the cars. The result of the operation carried out by the Americans was the identification of several Soviet agents and the decoding of the codes of the Soviet military intelligence. Another unpleasant story was the betrayal of Lieutenant Viktor Makarov, who served in the 16th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. In May 1985, the lieutenant, on his own initiative, offered his services to the British intelligence service MI6 and transmitted information about decrypted Canadian, Greek and German messages related to NATO activities in Europe.
On the other hand, the wiretapping of the French Embassy in Moscow in the early 1980s can be attributed to the number of famous victories of the Soviet special services in the field of wiretapping. In January 1983, the French Embassy in Moscow announced the discovery of an extraneous electronic device that could transmit received telegraph information to an external power grid. Also in the early 1980s.the staff of the KGB of the USSR and the MGB of the GDR broke the NATO code, after which they were able to read messages from the correspondence of the command of the Bundeswehr and the Western allies of the FRG.
Establishment of FAPSI
After the events of August 1991, transformational changes took place in the country's state security system. The State Security Committee ceased to exist. On November 26, 1991, the President of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin issued decree No. 233 "On the transformation of the State Security Committee of the RSFSR into the Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR." However, in the field of government communications management, large-scale transformations began somewhat earlier.
Almost immediately after the August events of 1991, the Committee of Government Communications under the President of the USSR was created, the chairman of which was appointed Lieutenant General Alexander Vladimirovich Starovoitov (born 1940) on September 25, 1991, who previously held the post of Deputy Head of the Directorate of Government Communications Troops for technical equipment of the State Security Committee. Alexander Starovoitov was one of the most competent specialists with extensive experience in scientific and technical and managerial activities both in specialized scientific and technical organizations and in the State Security Committee. After graduating from the Penza Polytechnic Institute, Alexander Starovoitov worked at the Kalugapribor plant, where he rose from an engineer to a deputy head of a workshop. Then he was transferred to Penza - to the enterprise "mailbox 30/10" of the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry. After the Penza Scientific Research Electrotechnical Institute of the Ministry of Communications Industry of the USSR was established on the basis of the enterprise, Alexander Starovoitov became an employee of this institute and worked there for twenty years - until 1986. Since December 1982, he served as First Deputy General Director of the Penza Production Association "Kristall" for Science - Director of the Penza Research Electrotechnical Institute, and in February 1983 headed the Penza Production Association "Kristall" of the Ministry of Communications Industry of the USSR. As a prominent specialist in his field, Alexander Starovoitov, who was listed as a lieutenant colonel of the current reserve of the KGB of the USSR, was drafted into military service and in May 1986 was appointed to the post of deputy head of the Office of Government Communications Forces for technical equipment, with the title of "Major General" … In May 1988, Major General Aleksandr Starovoitov was awarded the next military rank "Lieutenant General".
On December 24, 1991 by Decree of the President of the RSFSR No. 313 of December 24, 1991 "On the establishment of the Federal Agency for Government Communications under the President of the RSFSR" the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information under the President of the RSFSR was created. The new special service included the bodies of the Committee for Government Communications under the President of the RSFSR, which included the structures of the former 8th Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, the State Information and Computing Center under the State Commission for Emergency Situations, as well as the former 16th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR - the Main Directorate of Electronic Intelligence means of communication. Lieutenant General Alexander Starovoitov was appointed Director General of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information. Vladimir Viktorovich Makarov was appointed the first deputy general director of FAPSI - head of the personnel management department. Major General Anatoly Kuranov was appointed Deputy Director General of FAPSI.
The most secret secret service
Under the leadership of Alexander Starovoitov, the transformation of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information into a powerful special service began.which throughout the 1990s has been constantly developing and improving, remaining almost the most secret of the Russian power structures. On February 19, 1993, the Law of the Russian Federation “On Federal Bodies of Government Communications and Information” was signed, adopted by the Supreme Council of the country and laying the foundations for the legal and regulatory framework for the activities of the bodies of government communications of the Russian Federation. In 1994, for some time the Department of Information Resources of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation was included in the FAPSI, which existed in the structure of FAPSI under the name "Main Department of Information Resources". Then it was again returned to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation - this time under the name “Directorate of Informatization and Documentation Support of the Presidential Administration”. On April 3, 1995, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 334 "On measures to comply with the rule of law in the development, production, sale and operation of encryption tools, as well as the provision of services in the field of information encryption", the Federal Center for Protection was created as part of FAPSI economic information. At the same time, it should be noted that the functions of ensuring presidential communications since 1992 were separated from the competence of FAPSI in accordance with the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation of September 28 and October 29, 1992. The technical means of presidential communications and the personnel involved in their maintenance were transferred from the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information to the Main Directorate of Security of the Russian Federation. As part of the GUO of the Russian Federation, the Presidential Communications Department was created, headed by the Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Security of the Russian Federation Yu. P. Korneev. After the transformation of the Main Security Directorate into the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Presidential Communications Directorate remained as part of the new special service. As for the bodies of FAPSI, they made a huge contribution to ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation in the 1990s. FAPSI servicemen participated in counter-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus, performed many other important state tasks, including information support for the elections of the President of the Russian Federation in 1996. For effective work as the General Director of FAPSI, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin, February 23 1998 Colonel-General Alexander Starovoitov was awarded the military rank of General of the Army.
In the 1990s. serious changes have also taken place in the field of officer training for the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information. First of all, it should be noted that by order of the General Director of FAPSI Alexander Starovoitov, on April 23, 1992, the Oryol Higher Military Command School of Communications named after MI Kalinin was reorganized into the Military Institute of Government Communications (VIPS). Major General V. A. Martynov was appointed head of the institute. From the first days of its renewed existence, the educational institution has become one of the most prestigious military universities in Russia. On March 6, 1994, the Military Institute of Government Communications was the first of the military universities in Russia to receive a license for the right to conduct educational activities in established specialties. In 1998, in order to organize professional training of military specialists for federal bodies of government communications and information, the Voronezh military-technical school was created in Voronezh. It was created to cover the needs of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information for technical specialists with high-quality secondary vocational education, capable of working with communication and communication systems. At the Voronezh military-technical school, the term of study was calculated for 2, 5 years, and after graduation, the military rank of "ensign" was awarded. The educational institution trained specialists with secondary vocational education in the specialties "communication networks and switching systems", "multichannel telecommunication systems", "radio communication, radio broadcasting and television".
FAPSI in the late 1990s
On December 7, 1998, the first director of FAPSI, General of the Army Alexander Starovoitov, was dismissed from his post, with the wording "in connection with the transfer to another job." In 1999, Alexander Starovoitov was retired from military service. Subsequently, the "founding father" of FAPSI held various managerial positions in Russian scientific and technical institutions, up to the present time, he actively combines scientific and practical work and scientific and pedagogical activities. As director of FAPSI, Starovoitov was replaced by Colonel-General Vladislav Petrovich Sherstyuk (born 1940). A native of the Krasnodar Territory, Vladislav Sherstyuk was educated at the Physics Department of Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov, then entered military service in the bodies of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. He served in the 8th Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR (encryption, decryption and government communications). In 1992, after the establishment of the FAPSI, he continued to serve in the Main Directorate of Electronic Intelligence of Communications Facilities, and in 1995 was appointed head of the Main Directorate of Electronic Intelligence of the FAPSI. Since 1998, he also held the position of Deputy General Director of FAPSI. However, General Vladislav Sherstyuk did not last long as the head of the special service. He was appointed to the post on December 7, 1998, and already on May 31, 1999, just six months after his appointment, he was transferred to the post of First Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. He held this position until May 004, and then, for six years, was Assistant to the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Like Alexander Starovoitov, Vladislav Sherstyuk is not only a prominent statesman and military leader, but also a scientist. He is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Cryptography and a full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RANS).
By the end of the 1990s. FAPSI structure looked as follows. The Federal Agency included five main directorates. The main administrative department of FAPSI (GAU FAPSI) included the FAPSI headquarters and was engaged in the organization of management and other staff functions. The Main Directorate of Government Communications of the FAPSI (GUPS FAPSI) was formed on the basis of the units of the Administration of Government Communications of the KGB of the USSR and performed the tasks of ensuring the safety of subscribers of presidential communications and government communications, government long-distance communications. The Main Directorate of Communication Security of the FAPSI (GUBS FAPSI) was created on the basis of the 8th Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR (encryption and decryption) and continued its activities. The Main Directorate of Electronic Intelligence of Communication Facilities of the FAPSI (GURRSS FAPSI) was created on the basis of the 16th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR, which was engaged in the organization of electronic intelligence, radio interception and continued its functions. The Main Directorate of Information Resources of the FAPSI (GUIR FAPSI) was responsible for information and information technology support of state authorities and administrations of the Russian Federation, from the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Federal Security Service to regional authorities and administration. The competence of the GUID also included work with open sources of information, including the mass media. The tasks of the GUID were to provide the authorities and management with "reliable and independent from other sources of special information."Naturally, it was on the basis of the GUID that they built their information bases and structures of the presidential administration. Also, in addition to the main directorates, the FAPSI included the Cryptographic Service, which was responsible for encryption and primary processing of intelligence information, which was then sent to other special services and authorities, and the Internal Security Service, which ensures the protection of FAPSI employees, the premises of the special service, as well as the fight against corruption and espionage.
The Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information took an active part in counter-terrorist operations by federal forces on the territory of the republics of the North Caucasus, primarily in the Chechen Republic. An important role was played by the FAPSI electronic intelligence units, as well as government communications units. A number of FAPSI servicemen were killed during the hostilities on the territory of Chechnya while on duty. At the same time, a number of sources draw attention to the insufficient level of organization of information protection, primarily communications, during the first Chechen campaign, which led to numerous tragic situations and impressive human losses among the federal forces. Representatives of the militants have repeatedly demonstrated to journalists how they intercept the negotiations of Russian servicemen and policemen, this topic was constantly raised in the media, but none of the high-ranking officials gave any intelligible explanations.
After leaving the post of Colonel General Vladislav Sherstyuk, Colonel General Vladimir Georgievich Matyukhin (born 1945) was appointed the new, third and last General Director of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information. He, like his predecessor, was a veteran of the state security organs and began serving in the KGB of the USSR in the late 1960s. In 1968 Vladimir Matyukhin graduated from the Moscow Power Engineering Institute and in 1969 began serving in the 8th Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR (encryption, decryption, government communications). In parallel with his service in the KGB, the young officer raised his educational level - in 1973 he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov, and in 1983 - graduate school at the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR.
As part of FAPSI, Vladimir Matyukhin in 1991 headed the Research Center of the Main Directorate of Communication Security of FAPSI, and in 1993 became Deputy General Director of FAPSI. On May 31, 1999, he was appointed Director General of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information. As the general director of FAPSI, Vladimir Matyukhin was included in the Operational Headquarters for the management of counterterrorism actions in the North Caucasus region, and was also a member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Commission of the Government of the Russian Federation on military-industrial issues. Under the leadership of Vladimir Matyukhin, significant changes have taken place in the system of higher professional education of government communications and information bodies. So, at the end of March 2000, in accordance with the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 30, 2000 No. 94-rp and the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 12, 2000 No. 336, to improve the quality of training, retraining and advanced training of personnel in the field of government communications, special communications, electronic intelligence of communications and information protection, the Military Institute of Government Communications was transformed into the Academy of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information under the President of the Russian Federation (abbreviated name - Academy of FAPSI). This educational institution continued to train highly qualified personnel for government communications agencies in specialties related to information security.
Liquidation of FAPSI
In the early 2000s. the changed political and economic situation in the country made the leaders of the Russian state think about further improving the system of ensuring the national security of the country. As you know, after the collapse of the USSR and the liquidation of the KGB of the USSR, the former only and all-powerful special service of the Soviet Union, in post-Soviet Russia there were several special services at once, which arose on the basis of the KGB - 1) the Federal Security Service, which was responsible for counterintelligence, economic security and protection of the constitutional order; 2) the Foreign Intelligence Service, in charge of foreign intelligence; 3) the Federal Security Service, which was responsible for the protection of top officials of the state and strategic state facilities; 4) the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information, in charge of government communications and information protection, for electronic intelligence; 5) The Federal Border Service, which was responsible for the protection of state borders and was the successor of the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR. Now, in accordance with the changed situation, it was decided to significantly change the structure of the Russian special services. In particular, a course was taken to consolidate and strengthen the Federal Security Service and the Federal Guard Service. As a result of the reforms that began, a decision was made to abolish the Federal Border Service and re-subordinate its structures, bodies and troops to the Federal Security Service, which included the FSB Border Service. It was also decided to liquidate the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information - one of the most closed and efficiently operating special services of the Russian Federation. According to some experts, one of the reasons for the decision to include units of this special service in other security agencies was a number of high-profile scandals in the second half of the 1990s, associated with the activities of some high-ranking employees of the organization. In addition, the need for a unified structure capable of collecting and analyzing information, or - to ensure the security of the highest officials of the state - not only physical, but also informational, became obvious. These tasks also explained the forthcoming division of the FAPSI between the FSB and the FSO.
On March 11, 2003, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a decree abolishing the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information. The functions of FAPSI were distributed between the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. General Director of FAPSI Colonel-General Vladimir Matyukhin was transferred to the post of Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for State Defense Orders under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Then, on March 11, 2003, Vladimir Matyukhin was awarded the military rank of General of the Army. A significant part of the personnel and property of FAPSI was transferred to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, which included the establishment of the Special Communications and Information Service, the head of which received the rank of Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. The special communication and information service of the FSO was headed by Colonel-General Yuri Pavlovich Kornev (1948-2010), who previously, from 1991 to 2003, headed the Presidential Communications Department of the FAPSI (from 1992 - the GDO, then - the FSO), and in 2003 -2010 - Service of special communication and information FSO. After the untimely death of Yuri Pavlovich Kornev in 2010, in 2011. The special communication and information service was headed by Alexey Gennadievich Mironov.
Military educational institutions of FAPSI were also transferred to the subordination of the Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation. The Academy of the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information under the President of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 25, 2003, was renamed the Academy of the Special Communications and Information Service under the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (abbreviated as the Academy of Special Communications). The Voronezh military-technical school of the FAPSI was renamed into the Voronezh military-technical school of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. On November 15, 2004, a decision was made to rename the Academy of the Special Communications and Information Service under the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation into the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (abbreviated as the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation). In 2008, the Voronezh Military Technical School of the Federal Security Service was merged with the FSO Academy as a branch. Currently, the educational institution continues to train qualified specialists in the following specialties: multichannel telecommunication systems; radio communication, radio broadcasting and television; communication networks and switching systems; information security of telecommunication systems; automated information processing and control systems; jurisprudence (legal support of national security). The branch, created on the basis of the Voronezh Military Technical School, trains specialists with secondary vocational education, the training period is 2 years and 9 months, and upon graduation, graduates are awarded the military rank of "ensign". For the Federal Security Service, the transfer of FAPSI educational institutions to its structure was a special event, since before that the FSO did not have its own military educational institutions. The traditions of the special communications service are preserved - now in the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. But for many people who served in the bodies and troops of the FAPSI in 1991-2003, the day the FAPSI was formed is still important, since a lot is connected with this service, which existed throughout the first and so difficult decade of post-Soviet Russian statehood - youth, professional development and improvement, difficult everyday life of service and even heroic deeds.
