Seven pre-trial detention centers where those involved in cases against state security will be placed have come under the control of the FSB

The FSB has received at its disposal seven pre-trial detention centers, which were previously located within the structure of the Federal Penitentiary Service, according to data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, which The Insider drew attention to.

We are talking about Moscow pre-trial detention center-2 "Lefortovo", pre-trial detention center-3 in St. Petersburg, pre-trial detention center-4 in Rostov-on-Don, pre-trial detention center-5 in Krasnodar, pre-trial detention center-6 in Vladikavkaz, pre-trial detention center-7 in Chelyabinsk and pre-trial detention center-8 in annexed Simferopol.

The institutions were renamed and are now listed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities as pre-trial detention centers of the FSB or territorial departments of the FSB, notes The Insider.

The transfer of these detention centers was not accompanied by statements from the FSIN or the FSB. Four pre-trial detention centers, including Lefortovo, also had new heads.

The State Duma adopted a law that allows the FSB to have its own pre-trial detention centers in July 2025. It came into force on January 1, 2026. Those involved in cases against state security will be placed in detention centers at the disposal of the FSB.

The adoption of such a law means a return to the practices characteristic of the KGB, said former FSIN analyst Anna Karetnikova. According to her, detention and investigation cannot be in the same hands: this legalizes arbitrariness when confessions are extracted from prisoners by creating unbearable conditions of detention.

The FSB could have its own detention centers until 2006. After that, they fell into the structure of the Federal Penitentiary Service as part of Russia’s obligations to the Council of Europe, from which the Russian Federation was excluded after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. De facto, after 2006, the FSB continued to control Lefortovo - the pre-trial detention center building is located next to the FSB investigative department.