A "war" for the post of FSB director has begun.

• 17.12.2025 11:46

According to sources at the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, a behind-the-scenes struggle for the post of FSB Director has begun. The current head of the service, Alexander Bortnikov, has been on sick leave since May and may leave his post as early as next year.

According to the source, under the new acting head of FSB Directorate K, Alexei Trukhachev (previously deputy head of Directorate M), trusted officers of this department have begun inviting bankers and businessmen considered close to the former head of Directorate K, Ivan Tkachev (currently head of the FSB’s Far Eastern Criminal Investigation Department). They are delicately asked whether they have encountered instances of corruption or protection rackets for their businesses (by the previous Directorate K leadership) and are told that they can now confidently speak about such matters. The rationale behind this is the need to purge the banking system of corrupt "filth," but everyone understands that in reality, a "file" is being compiled for Tkachev. He is one of the contenders for the post of Director of the FSB.

As previously reported by the Cheka-OGPU, Bortnikov has been on sick leave since May 2025 due to a relapse of an old illness and appears only at high-profile events—Security Council meetings, conferences with Putin, etc. The de facto director’s duties are currently being performed by First Deputy Head of the FSB, Sergei Korolev. He is the leading candidate for the new director’s post, but everyone knows Tkachev’s ability to make career leaps, and he occasionally meets with Putin personally.

A third candidate for the director’s post is considered to be Putin’s former bodyguard and current Secretary of the State Council, Alexei Dyumin. He is being actively promoted for the post by the old clan within Putin’s inner circle—Arkady Rotenberg, Gennady Timchenko, and others.

Also mentioned as minor candidates are the current head of the FSB’s Security Service, Sergei Alpatov, and the head of the FSB’s Fifth Service, Alexei Komkov. However, our source believes that they could become deputy directors if Sergei Korolev takes over the post.