Sergei Mikhailovich Smirnov (, born October 12, 1950) is a retired Russian intelligence officer whose career ended with a seventeen-year stint as First Deputy Director of the

Federal Security Service The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation �СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...

(FSB). He was made a

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

in 2006.

Early life and education

Born in Chita in 1950, his family moved to Leningrad in 1952. He later attended school alongside

Nikolai Patrushev Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev (; born 11 July 1951) is a Russian politician, security officer and former intelligence officer who served as the secretary of the Security Council of Russia from 2008 to 2024. He previously served as the director o ...

and

Boris Gryzlov Boris Vyacheslavovich Gryzlov (, ; born 15 December 1950) is a Russian politician and diplomat currently serving as the Russian Ambassador to Belarus. Previously, he served as the chairman of the State Duma from 2003 to 2011 and as interior m ...

at the school No. 211. Together with Gryzlov he graduated from M.A. Bonch-Bruevich Leningrad Electroengineering Institute of Communications in 1973. He completed the Higher Courses of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in 1975.

Intelligence career

In 1975, he joined the KGB and the early part of his career was spent in the Leningrad region

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

and then FSB. While not a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, he was a member of the Leningrad security clique. When Putin was made director of the FSB in 1998, Patrushev became his deputy and Smirnov moved to Moscow. He quickly acquired one of the key positions within the agency: head of the Internal Security Directorate (UVB), the watchdogs’ watchdog. In 1999, he became the Chief of the Internal Security Directorate of FSB. From January 5, 2001, to June 2003, he was the Chief of the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

FSB Directorate. Dmitri Medvedev with Sergei Smirnov

In July 2003, he became First Deputy Director of the FSB, retaining his position after a major reorganization of it in July 2004. On December 20, 2006, he was made a

by presidential decree.

Personal life

Smirnov was reported to have had a stroke several years prior to his retirement.

Retirement

In October 2020, Smirnov retired quietly in an apparent dismissal by Vladimir Putin. It was no surprise that he was going to retire, as he had reached the age of 70 and was already in ill-health, but it was a surprise that he departed office with such a lack of fanfare and no comfortable sinecures. He was, after all, a powerful and influential figure within the Russian security community.

Honors and awards

Master of Sports Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

of the Soviet Union in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

. * Order of Military Merit *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

* Order of Honor

References

External links

Biography
by

Vladimir Pribylovsky Vladimir Valerianovich Pribylovsky (, 6 March 195613 January 2016) was a Soviet and Russian political scientist, historian, journalist, human rights activist, and author of internet database Anticompromat.org on biographies of Russian politicia ...

(in Russian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smirnov, Sergei 1950 births Living people People from Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai Russian politicians KGB officers Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Generals of the army (Russia)