Publication

This publication examines the structural reform of Russia’s internal security agencies after the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that the establishment of a Ministry of Security and Internal Affairs was illegal. The author argues that the security system was deliberately fragmented under former Russian President Boris Yeltsin because he wanted to control it but at the same time to impair cooperation between individual organizations. The paper concludes that President Vladimir Putin had to streamline the existing security structures in order to combat both old and new threats.