From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 12/21/2006 4:32 PM
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Russia: The KGB's Post-Soviet 'Commercialization'
By Victor Yasmann
Russia -- Moscow, building of the KGB and monument of Dzerzhinsky on Lubyanka, 01May1990
Before the fall: KGB headquarters in 1990
(TASS)
December 20, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Russia today is honoring workers in the state security agencies -- a professional holiday better known by its Soviet-era appellation, "Chekists' Day" -- as the legacy of the KGB grows increasingly commercial -- and criminal.
The mysterious murder of former security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko is once again shedding light on how the Soviet-era KGB has evolved in contemporary Russia.
Before it was disbanded in 1991, the KGB was a massive organization, employing over half a million uniformed officers as well as a network of millions of informers.
A highly disciplined and militarized service, it controlled almost every aspect of life in the USSR and adhered with utmost loyalty to the Communist Party ...
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