Financial espionage specialist Pavel Ivanov appointed head of Russia's most secret foreign intelligence service department

On February 1, 2024, Pavel Ivanov, former head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Economic Intelligence Directorate (also known as Directorate “E”), was appointed commander of Military Unit 39949.

Unit 39949 is the SVR’s most secret unit. Its structure includes the Directorate of Political Intelligence (“P”), Directorate of Legal Intelligence (“L”), Directorate of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (“N”) and Directorate of Illegal Intelligence («S»). Officers in 39949 run the SVR's largest residences around the world and spy from Russian embassies abroad under the guise of diplomats. They usually hold positions of ambassadorial aides and 1st or 2nd secretaries. They also use jobs at major Russian banks and energy companies that have foreign subsidiaries as a cover — as well as roles in the foreign correspondent offices of most Russian state-owned media.

General Pavel Ivanov graduated from the Military Institute of Finance and Economics in Yaroslavl and then studied at the SVR Academy. After graduating from the academy, he was appointed to the central apparatus of the SVR, where he rose to the position of head of financial intelligence. According to The Insider's source in Russian intelligence, Ivanov oversaw financial espionage in Ukraine, Moldova and the Baltic states and “achieved impressive operational results thanks to numerous agents in banking circles.”

The commander of Unit 39949 and his deputies are assigned a mansion on Kolpachny Lane in Moscow — the former head of the Soviet-era Ministry of State Security Viktor Abakumov lived in the building before his arrest in 1951 (Abakumov was executed by firing squad in 1954). They also have a secret dacha in the village of Lopatino in the Moscow Region’s Leninsky District, complete with its own sauna and standalone guard house.

Ivanov's wife Oksana Moroz graduated from the Financial Univeristy in Moscow and now heads the internal financial audit department at the Russian Foreign Ministry's headquarters.