Support The Moscow Times!

Chief Guard Out-Earns Top Spymasters

The chief of the Federal Guard Service out-earned the directors of both the Federal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service, according to income declarations made public this week after months of refusal.

Yevgeny Murov, head of the Federal Guard Service, earned 5.8 million rubles ($187,000) in 2009, Kommersant reported Tuesday. This is 2.5 million rubles ($81,000) more than President Dmitry Medvedev, whom Murov is in charge of protecting, Vedomosti said.

Murov owns two plots of land with a total area of 6,400 square meters; two country houses; a modest 49-square-meter apartment; a garage; two cars, including a Porsche Cayenne; and four motorcycles, including a Harley-Davidson.

Murov's wife only earned 77,000 rubles ($2,500) in 2009, but she owns a spacious 209-square-meter apartment and a Lexus sedan.

Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov made 5.5 million rubles in 2009 and owns a 10,000-square-meter plot of land, a dacha and a 587-square-meter apartment, Interfax reported Tuesday. His wife only earned 190,000 rubles, and they have no cars.

FSB director Alexander Bortnikov earned 4.7 million rubles last year, and his wife earned 90,000 rubles. They do not own any vehicles but have two apartments, a plot of land and a dacha.

The FSB also disclosed incomes of six of Bortnikov's deputies, of whom Vladimir Pronichev, who heads the border guards, earned 3.5 million rubles, and Sergei Smirnov — 3.9 million rubles.

The guard service published declarations of three of Murov's five deputies, of whom only one, Alexander Lashchuk, has a car in the family, owned by his wife.

Medvedev ordered top officials to publish income declarations by April 30, but specified no penalties for not complying. FSB officials earlier refused to release the income declarations, saying they were a state secret. It was not immediately clear why they changed their minds.

Read more