KGB

01

The former Soviet Union's Committee for State Security established by Khrushchev in 1954. Its precursor was an organization called the Cheka, founded in 1917, that served to suppress sabotage and counter-revolutionary activities.

The KGB's original purpose was domestic surveillance and the prevention of uprisings, but it also operated intelligence activities overseas as an extension of this role. Espionage equipment such as lipstick-shaped guns carried by female agents, and tracking devices hidden in the soles of shoes are said to have been developed by the KGB after it began to collect intelligence on foreign scientific technologies. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its authority was turned over to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation.