Members of Russia’s Security Council. Including notorious Russian Spymaster and Director of SVR Mikhail Fradkov second to the left.
On March 13, 2014 President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council to discuss the interaction between the Russian Federation and Central American and Caribbean countries, as well as the situation in Ukraine.
Present at the meeting were Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Ivanov, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Service Director Mikhail Fradkov, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Rashid Nurgaliyev, and a permanent member of the Security Council Boris Gryzlov.
* * *
“PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon, colleagues.
Today we have one issue we had planned to discuss and one that is not on the agenda. The first one deals with the development of relations between the Russian Federation and the countries of Central America and the Caribbean.
The second matter, which we cannot disregard, concerns the events that are developing in Ukraine, in Crimea, and everything that has to do with this difficult problem, which has arisen – and I want to stress this – through no fault of ours. However, this crisis has occurred and we’re involved in it whether we like it or not. I note that this is primarily a domestic Ukrainian crisis. Unfortunately, all of us realize that we have been drawn into this situation.
Let us consider together how we can build our relations with our partners and friends in Ukraine and with our other partners in Europe and the United States.
Let us start with the first issue, which is on today’s agenda.”
END STATEMENT FROM KREMLIN
Source: http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/6843
It should be noted that Mikhail Fradkov was in attendance at the Security Council meeting. His presence underscores just how serious the meeting really is. He was probably there to brief members on the political and military dynamics of the evolving situation in Ukraine.
Fradkov is the current director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Services (Russian: Служба Внешней Разведки Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki or SVR).
The SVR Director is appointed by and reports directly to the President of Russia. The SVR operates agents and spies in almost every country on earth.
The Director provides intelligence briefings to the President every Monday and on other occasions as necessary.
The Foreign Intelligence Service is Russia’s primary external intelligence agency. It is considered one of the best foreign intelligence services in the world, especially in terms of gathering human intelligence on the ground in hot spots all over the world.
The SVR is the successor of the First Chief Directorate (PGU) of the KGB since December 1991. It the the equivalent to the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA in the United States – but operates on a much tighter budget.
The SVR is responsible for intelligence and espionage activities outside the Russian Federation. It works in cooperation with the Russian Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye (GRU, Main Intelligence Directorate).
The SVR is also authorized to negotiate anti-terrorist cooperation and intelligence-sharing arrangements with foreign intelligence agencies, and provides detailed and in depth analysis and dissemination of covert intelligence to the Russian president.
See special report: Meet Russia’s premier spymaster Mikhail Fradkov. Read more here:https://groundreport.com/meet-russias-premier-spymaster-mikhail-fradkov/