Putin clausura el Servicio de Control de Drogas de Rusia y destituye a su director

La decisión de clausurar el FSKN, el Servicio de Control de Drogas de la Federación Rusa, se anunció el 30 de marzo en el marco de una reforma más general, que entrañaría la creación de una nueva Guardia Nacional. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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By Mikhail Fishman

On May 10, an unusual post appeared on Facebook, apparently signed by Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN). “Comrades and fellow soldiers,” it began. “I want to apologize that I couldn’t save our organization. We protected our national interests honestly.” Someone somewhere seemed far from happy with the decision to dismantle one of the largest government agencies.

For any former senior level official to question President Vladimir Putin’s logic is, in the context of the Russian system, a demonstration of significant disloyalty. The post — allegedly written by Ivanov himself — disappeared from Facebook within an hour. The FSKN press office described the publication as a “provocation” against the service and its head.

The decision to disband FSKN, along with the Federal Migration Service, was announced on March 30 as part of a broader reform, including the creation of a new National Guard. Under the plans, in little over one week, the agency will be no more, and Ivanov, a longtime associate of Putin, will retire. According to various sources in and around government, Ivanov had been kept in the dark about the plans until the very last minute.

This is a quite unusual way of doing business in Putin’s universe, and seems to be a sign of serious dissatisfaction somewhere within government.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Evilape79