“Until the end of this year, various reshuffles will take place not only in the 2nd and 5th Services of the FSB of Russia (their heads Beseda and Sedov leave their posts upon reaching 70 years of age), but also in the 9th Directorate (USB) of the FSB . In the fall (possibly earlier) of this year, General Alexey Vertyashkin will leave the post of head of the FSB “special unit” and may become the head of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region instead of Alexey Dorofeev. At the same time, there are plenty of contenders for the latter’s place besides Vertyashkin, and clan intrigues associated with the appointment to this position will continue until the last moment. However, Vertyashkin is making every effort to move to the capital region. Politically, and even more so financially, the position of the head of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and Moscow Region has more weight than the position of the head of the FSB Internal Affairs Directorate. Occupying the latter, any general is essentially simply the main instrument in the hands of the Kremlin elites for the redistribution of property and clarification of clan relations by organizing various custom-made criminal cases, and the headquarters of the head of the FSB Directorate for Moscow and the Moscow Region is already a political position with a colossal staff and a corresponding level of capabilities and information. 
This has been the case since Soviet KGB times. Whoever headed the capital region was in fact equivalent to the deputy head of the entire intelligence service. In today’s realities, many Deputy Directors of the FSB can envy the total capabilities of Colonel General Dorofeev, whom they have been trying to “bring down” for many years, but the latter’s very political weight makes (or rather, made) him an untouchable figure in the current system of power.
At the same time, today Vertyashkin has captured a lot in the Moscow region. He is a friend, fellow countryman and partner in a number of corruption cases with one of the strongest clans in the Ministry of Internal Affairs – the Spider clan. Viktor Paukov has been the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region for more than 10 years. His son Oleg Paukov is the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Central Administrative District of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow. Vertyashkin and the Paukovs are connected by financial and family ties, including in the prism of the regions of Mordovia and the Penza region. In addition, another high-ranking security official associated with the Penza community in the capital is the deputy head of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the city of Moscow (supervises the official department) Kirill Menshov. The latter is part of the strongest group of corrupt officials and lobbyists of the capital’s Investigative Committee – people from the South-Western Administrative District of Saksin-Vazagova.
Thus, all the “grounds” are already there for Vertyashkin to head the FSB Directorate for Moscow and Moscow Region. Moreover, just in October, the main “special officer” of Lubyanka ends his five-year tenure at the headquarters of the head of the 9th Directorate. All that remains is for a political decision. Vertyashkin will be helped to formalize this political decision as soon as possible by: his patron, Director of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and, of course, the influence group of the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Who will head the CSS after Vertyashkin? The contenders include the head of Directorate “M” Vladimir Sergienko and the same Ivan Tkachev (if it doesn’t work out to head the 2nd Service instead of Alexey Sedov). Also in the personnel reserve for the next reshuffle are Generals Filatov and Gurtopov, who have already spent too much time as deputies of the head of the 9th Directorate. Thus, by the end of the year, the FSB will face serious reshuffles in a number of key units of the intelligence service.”
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
