FSB reportedly fires more than a dozen agents who recorded and leaked footage of last month's deadly shootout in Moscow

Russia’s Federal Security Service has reportedly fired 16 staff responsible for recording and leaking cell-phone footage of last month’s deadly shootout in downtown Moscow, a source close to the agency told the website RBC. 

Two sources confirmed to Meduza that the fired FSB staff filmed some of the events during the December 19 shootout. The agents apparently worked in the FSB’s economic security “Department P,” supervising operational support for criminal cases involving Russia’s strategically important industrial enterprises. According to another source with close ties to the Russian intelligence community, the FSB agents in question are still only suspended, but they have supposedly filed resignation letters in response to allegations by an internal review board created on orders from the FSB’s director.

Open Media reports that “more than 15 staff” have been fired, most of whom worked as agents in the FSB’s economic security department. 

Meanwhile, a source told Znak.com that only five, albeit senior, officers have lost their jobs. “They fired both those who just recorded the videos and transmitted them on WhatsApp and those who shared the footage with the media,” the source claimed.

In late December, Meduza used footage from the scene of the shootout in Moscow to determine that poor coordination among security officials likely led to friendly fire and at least one avoidable injury.