Active reserve (KGB)

The active reserve of the KGB^[1] are members of the organization who work undercover "either pretending to assume various jobs or using as cover professions in which they are actually trained".^[2][3] Active reserve KGB officers typically occupied such positions as deputy directors of scientific research or deans responsible for foreign relations in academic institutions of the Soviet Union, although these people were not scientists.^[2] Other officers were trained for certain civilian jobs, usually translators, journalists, telephone engineers, or doormen in hotels that served foreigners.^[2]

The active reserve was significantly expanded in Post-Soviet Russia, when a majority of positions in the Russian power elite were occupied by acting or undercover officers of the Russian state security services, such as the FSB and SVR, the official successors of the KGB.^[4] "The only difference between them [officers of active reserve] and regular civil-servants is that they have an extra duty: writing reports every month for the FSB. They are the eyes of the master”, said sociologist Olga Krychtanovskaia.^[5]