When Boris Yeltsin was fighting communism, the KGB dogged his every step. Now, the president wants to bring order to his unruly government - and is turning to his old enemies for help.
Over the past week, Yeltsin has appointed three former spies to key jobs in his administration dealing with Russia's far-flung regions, where the Kremlin has suffered several recent setbacks.Yeltsin has not commented publicly on the appointments. But critics say the former KGB agents, trained in the repressive Soviet system, abhor civilian control over government, are generally anti-democratic and oppose reforms.
"They seem to be out of their mind at the Kremlin," says Yevgenia Albats, a prominent Russian commentator who has followed the KGB and its successor intelligence organizations' activities since Soviet times.
First, Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin, 45, a former KGB intelligence officer posted to Germany during the 1970s, as his first deputy chief of staff in charge of relations with Russia's regions.
Then he named Gen. Viktor Zorin, former deputy chief of the Federal Security Service - the KGB's main successor agency - head of the Department for Special Programs. Little is known about the secretive department although it is believed to be involved in regional issues.
On Monday, Gen. Nikolai Patrushev, 46, another high-ranking Federal Security Service official, was appointed head of the presidential Main Control Directorate - the department controlling how regional officials spend money from Moscow.
Andrei Ryabov, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, said the appointments were made to tighten Yeltsin's control over the recently disobedient regions.
Regional officials have been blamed for misspending the federal funds allocated to the regions - worsening the chronic problem of unpaid wages and pensions.