ABSTRACT
The historical narrative of Russian intelligence education and training marked an important milestone in September 2018. The ‘educational Olympics’ are held every year from December to February all across Russia, from Kaliningrad to Khabarovsk. The head of the FSB Academy is general Yevgeny Sysoyev, a former FSB deputy director in charge of the Russian National Counterterrorism Committee, one of the highest posts in Russian intelligence. In contrast to most Western states, Russia has had a long tradition of higher education intelligence institutions being separate and autonomous units within the state educational system. The rationale for higher education intelligence institutional arrangement is to be found in the nature of the Russian political life. The history of the Institute goes back to the purges of the late 1930s when the Soviet leadership, suspicious of the extensive foreign penetration of the existing intelligence apparatus, decided to set up a completely new educational institution for foreign intelligence professionals.
