Allegations Regarding "Zashchita Otechestva" Foundation

I am informing you that in the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight against Terrorism (2nd Department) of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, at the initiative of its leaders Alexander Ivanovich Zhdan'kov, Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, Gennady Leonidovich Solovyov, and Alexander Dmitrievich Shagako, the so-called "Foundation for Assistance to Veterans of FSB Units Ensuring the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight against Terrorism 'Zashchita Otechestva' [Defense of the Fatherland]" was created and has been functioning for more than two years.

• It is headed by an active FSB Colonel and employee of the 2nd Department, Oleg Leonidovich Lavrov (Foundation address: Moscow, Myasnitskaya St., 41, bldg. 5).

The founders and employees of "Zashchita Otechestva," with the support of Deputy Director of the FSB of Russia Pronichev, the leaders of the 2nd Department of the FSB of Russia, and the connivance of the Internal Security Directorate of the FSB of the RF, are engaged in the extortion of funds from the heads of commercial structures who at various times, for whatever reason, came to the attention of the DZKSBT of the FSB of the RF and found themselves in a dependent position on its employees.

• Funds are taken from private entrepreneurs in exchange for declarative promises of support from the DZKSBT and the Special Purpose Center of the FSB of the RF in resolving issues disputed by businessmen with judicial and tax authorities, Ministry of Internal Affairs bodies, and representatives of the criminal world.

The money obtained through blackmail goes toward the personal enrichment of the command staff of the 2nd Department of the FSB of the RF and those close to them. Only an insignificantly small part of the material assistance reaches actual veterans.

Furthermore, O. L. Lavrov, again for monetary rewards, issues Foundation member IDs to people who have never served in the state security bodies and who use these documents to resolve purely self-serving issues, sometimes of a criminal nature.

I was compelled to write this letter by my rejection of a situation in which the potential of one of the main units of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is directed toward solving tasks far removed from those set before state security officers in the matter of protecting our Fatherland.

FSB RF Officer.