SECURITY AND MVD MINISTERS UPGRADED.

President Boris Yeltsin has awarded Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Mikhail Barsukov and Internal Affairs (MVD) minister Anatoly Kulikov the rank of four-star General, promoting them from Col. General to Army General. (14) The chiefs of Russia’s biggest security service and largest law-enforcement agency thus become equal in rank to the defense minister. The main significance of these promotions is to upgrade Barsukov’s position and implicitly that of the FSB, a direct successor to the KGB. Kulikov’s predecessor as Internal Affairs Minister, Viktor Yerin, did have four-star rank, while Barsukov’s predecessor as FSB chief, Sergei Stepashin, did not. Stepashin has just been named to coordinate the Russian government’s work in supervising the security and law enforcement ministries and agencies.

OMON Strengthening Its Ranks.