FSB Criminalistics Institute

The Central Research Institute of the KGB of the USSR (now the Criminalistics Institute as part of the Centre for special technology of the FSB of the Russian Federation) was established in 1977 to perform the functions of a high-tech investigative unit. The polygraph laboratory, established in 1975 at the KGB of the USSR, was incorporated into the Institute in 1994 as its department. Since the spring of 1996, the Institute has been running courses for polygraph examiners led by the head of this department. During the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, one of the premises of the Operations Centre of the Criminalistics Institute was used by the putschists as a command centre. The Criminalistics Institute took part in the investigation of high-profile terrorist acts and accidents: the Russian apartment bombings in 1999, the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk (K-141) in 2000, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis in 2002, the Beslan school siege in 2004 and others. == Activities ==

The Criminalistics Institute has been and remains a secret institution since its inception. One of the activities of the organization in Soviet times was the production of poisons and means of their covert use. One of the Institute's divisions is still working with poisons. Russian journalist claimed that polonium was stored in the Institute, which was later used to poison former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko. In December 2020, a joint investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider, with the participation of Der Spiegel, CNN and the Anti-Corruption Foundation, concluded that the Institute's employees are working with chemical weapon, in particular, with a Novichok agent. The same investigative group reported that a team of FSB operatives worked under the cover of the Institute, which organized the assassination attempt on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Tomsk, and that this team operated under the leadership of Stanislav Makshakov, deputy head of the FSB Criminalistics Institute. == Personalities ==

• Kirill Yurievich Vasiliev (general, chemical engineer) is the director of the Criminalistics Institute. • Stanislav Valentinovich Makshakov (colonel, Candidate of Medical Sciences) — deputy director of the Criminalistics Institute for Science. == See also ==