Translated material
The FSB received seven FSIN pre-trial detention centers
The FSB has taken ownership of seven pre-trial detention centers that were previously part of the FSIN system, The Insider reports , citing data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The publication notes that the transfer took place without public announcements.
The FSB has taken over pre-trial detention centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Vladikavkaz, Chelyabinsk and Simferopol in the annexed Crimea. The management of four detention centers has changed; it is connected with the FSB, the publication writes.
The law that restored the right of the FSB to have its own detention centers came into force on January 1, 2026. In 1996, Russia joined the Council of Europe and promised to review the FSB law within a year, bringing it into line with the organization's standards. It was about depriving the FSB of the right to manage pre-trial detention centers. The functions of investigation and detention, according to the principles of the Council of Europe, had to be separated to avoid pressure on those arrested. All detention centers owned by the FSB were transferred to the Ministry of Justice in 2005, although the Lefortovo detention center de facto remained under the control of the special service. In 2022, Russia left the Council of Europe.
The co-author of the amendments, deputy Vasily Piskarev, justified them by the fact that after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “the intelligence and subversive activities of foreign intelligence services and terrorist and extremist communities against Russia intensified multiple times.”
Lawyer and founder of the human rights project “First Department” Ivan Pavlov said that there are more cases under the jurisdiction of the FSB, so the special service needs new detention centers. He added that this would complicate the work of lawyers.
The editor-in-chief of the website Agentura.ru Andrei Soldatov told Present Time that the changes could lead to the appearance of a parallel system of prisons and, possibly, camps in the country. “We know about the existence of a system of filtration camps. This system is already partially under the control of the FSB, the counterintelligence department and other divisions of the FSB operate there,” Soldatov said .
Radio Liberty news release:
The FSB received seven FSIN pre-trial detention centers