For the fourth time since ordering the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin has expanded his protective service’s central staff
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree expanding the central-office staff of Russia’s Federal Protective Service (FSO), according to Kommersant.
The decree raises the number of employees from 785 to 812, effective July 1. The reason for the increase was not specified.
This marks the fourth increase in the FSO’s staffing level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin raised the level from 725 to 760 employees in late 2022, to 775 as of January 1, 2024, and to 785 as of January 1, 2025.
Before the full-scale invasion, the staffing level of the FSO’s central office had remained unchanged since 2010.
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FSO
The Federal Protective Service is one of Russia’s security agencies, tasked chiefly with protecting the federal government and the president. Its duties go well beyond that: the service also includes the presidential orchestra, the honor guard that stands watch at the Eternal Flame, and the special garage that maintains the motor pool for the country’s top officials. The FSO also oversees the special communications service, which absorbed the duties of a separate agency, the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information (FAPSI), disbanded in 2003.