FSB poised for additional responsibilities under new national security strategy

• ISRAEL/JORDAN - Shin Bet boss caught out in Aqaba

• RUSSIA/FINLAND - Putin rewards his envoys to Finland

• CHINA - Xi prepares for possible war with changes to military legal system

• RUSSIA - FSB steps up surveillance of IT operators

• UNITED STATES - OFAC works towards better public-private interaction

• FRANCE/ARABIA - Tensions over alcohol supply chains

Private sector reaches out to Russia's future cryptography centre 

The new national cryptography centre planned for 2024 is now to be finished before the end of the year. To meet the altered deadline, the intelligence services have stepped in and are calling on their go-to providers.

• FRANCE - Tracfin seeks new chief to boost technical department. 

• ISRAEL/EGYPT - Ronen Bar on reconciliation mission in Cairo. 

• RUSSIA - FSB coast guards take the plunge.

• UKRAINE - Death a regional SBU head sparks probe. 

FSB keeps close watch on Caucasian borders 

The FSB's border patrol is hard at work in the highly volatile Caucasus region, along Russian borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The number of control sites is growing and growing.

Operation new recruits: Russian intelligence targets conscripts and students 

The increased human resource needs of the intelligence services has lead them to expand their pool of candidates to include those from the army and universities. These drives are being supported by the adoption of new legislative measures by the Duma.

Sergei Korolev to carry Shanghai Pact's anti-terrorism flag 

Russia has appointed rising intelligence star Sergei Korolev to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as it renews its membership with the regional alliance and ramps up efforts to counter various groups it qualifies as terrorist or extremist.

Putin struggles to renew strategic guard in Middle East 

Faced with significant diplomatic and security stakes in that part of the world, the Kremlin is renewing the close guard of siloviki in charge of Russian strategy in the Midle East. But it is struggling to include the younger generation.

Evgeni Primakov Jr renews Russian soft power as head of Rossotrudnichestvo 

An influence tool and relay of Moscow's intelligence apparatus, the Rossotrudnichestvo, Moscow's cultural relations arm, is seeking new opportunities.

FSB's online monitoring supplier makes moves in Khartoum 

To aid its charm offensive in Africa, Moscow can count on a faithful relay in Andrei Masalovich, an ex-Russian intelligence colonel whose company Avalanche markets secure communications technology.

Kremlin retools Russian intelligence apparatus in Armenia 

Shaken up by events in its traditional fief of Armenia, the Kremlin has replaced its people in Yerevan in the wake of the protests that shook the country last April.

Moscow dusts off old KGB manuals  Free

The FSB and the GRU's methods to destabilise south-eastern Ukraine were devised by the KGB in the 1980s.

MOSCOW'S COMPUTER SECURITY SCARE 

"Informational security" has become one of the major concerns of Russian intelligence in recent times. The FSB is presently negotiating