Inside Russia’s SVR: The Foreign Intelligence Service

For most of the twentieth century, the brutal KGB, or secret police, was at the center of Russian life. After the failed coup d'etat of 1991 in Russia, President Boris Yeltsin reduced the power of the KGB by restructuring it into small units that answered to him. Today SVR agents collect intelligence outside of Russia that will affect Russian politics, its economy, military strategy, science, and technology. The SVR has been embroiled in international scandals for having recruited English and American counterspies. Readers will be fascinated by the intrigue that surrounds this intelligence agency.