KGB



This article is about a fictional representation of a real-world topic.

The KGB is the common abbreviation for the Russian Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Комитет государственной безопасности) or Committee for State Security. It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991, and its premier was internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time. It was split into several divisions, including the Sixth Directorate, which focused on Economic Counter-intelligence and industrial security, and the Ninth Directorate, which protects the Kremlin and provides bodyguards for high-level VIPs, mostly 'Party and government' figures that included high-ranking officials and their families.

History
During the 1960s, the KGB developed various devices, such as a button-sized camera, a transmitter small enough to be placed in someone's shoe, and a narcosis gun disguised as a cigarette. In addition, there were also instances where field agents of the KGB and the CIA were on friendly terms despite being enemies, although it was very rare to see it as high as the station chief level.

In August 1964, KGB guards from the Ninth Directorate, armed with AK-47s and RGD-5 grenades, were sent to the OKB-754 design bureau to guard weapons scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov against GRU forces led by Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin. The Ninth Directorate was chosen by Khrushchev for guarding Sokolov because it's head was a protege of Khrushchev himself and wanted to cut risks to ensure that the Shagohod's development succeeded without interference. CIA operative Naked Snake managed to infiltrate the abandoned factory where Sokolov was being held, but was ambushed by KGB troops as he made his exit. Snake was then saved by Major Ocelot of GRU, having mistaken him for a defecting agent, and killed the KGB soldiers present.

Pressuring the CIA to assassinate The Boss, who had provided nuclear warheads to Colonel Volgin, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev allowed the FOX unit to use one of the KGB's communication satellites during Operation Snake Eater, one week later. The KGB also set up a meeting between Snake and one of their agents, known as ADAM. Despite Snake's arrival at the meeting point on time, he instead met with the supposed KGB operative EVA who took over ADAM's mission. EVA had actually been a spy for the Chinese People's Liberation Army, while the triple agent Ocelot (who was really ADAM) acquired half of the Philosophers' Legacy for the CIA. Shortly after the mission, even though EVA/The Boss's debriefing indicated that the reason for the change in the mission was because they didn't want the Soviets to know about their attempt at stealing the legacy both times, the KGB nonetheless knew about the true nature of both missions, with Ocelot suggesting that they use their knowledge on the missions as blackmail to the United States Government in future negotiations. In addition, the KGB was involved in ousting their former employer, Khrushchev, from power.

Post-Snake Eater
The KGB eventually formed an elite counter-terrorism operations unit called the Alpha Group. In addition, the KGB also located Sokolov (who survived the events of Operation Snake Eater by faking his death), and transferred him to the gulags until he was rescued by the FOX operative Gene. The KGB also had some involvement in orchestrating various rebellions in the West via contacts.

Some contacts trained a group in Colombia, who also became acquainted with Kazuhira Miller, a mercenary who at the time was a trainer for the guerilla group.



In 1974, KGB intelligence operative Vladimir Zadornov was dispatched to Costa Rica in order to propel Central America towards Communism and help the Soviets win the wider Cold War. First, he had KGB contacts supply Amanda Valenciano Libre's Sandinistas with a drug-purification plant, in order to raise money for their revolution in neighboring Nicaragua. Zadornov then disguised himself as a respected University for Peace professor, Ramón Gálvez Mena, and hired the Militaires Sans Frontières to combat the CIA Peace Sentinel who were operating in the country. In reality he had allied himself with the rogue CIA forces, providing resources for a mobile nuclear launch platform that they were developing, but intended to use it for the Soviets' own designs. He was aided in this scheme by fellow operative Paz Ortega Andrade.

Zadornov and Soviet troops later took over the U.S. missile base in Nicaragua, in which the Peace Sentinel were preparing to launch a nuclear strike. The KGB intended that Cuba be attacked, making it seem as though America was the guilty party, allowing anti-American sentiment and Communism to spread unchecked throughout Central America. However, this plan failed, due to their former Sandinista allies turning on them. After Coldman activated Peace Walker and also nearly caused nuclear armageddon by having Peace Walker leak the false data set to NORAD, the KGB, along with the CIA, attempted to cover up the events. Several of the surviving Soviet soldiers also ended up joining MSF, with Zadornov being considered by Miller to be convinced in joining so the morale of the former Soviet members would be bolstered. Though imprisoned by the MSF, Zadornov again attempted to hijack a nuclear weapon, with inside help from Paz, but was killed before he could witness the mission's conclusion. Paz, however, was also working as an agent of the shadowy organization Cipher.

Post-Peace Walker
At some point, the KGB contacts that became acquainted with Miller hired MSF for a hit on Glaz and Palitz, a duo of Marines who acted as an infamous pair of assassins-for-hire due to their involvement in the Laotian Civil War.

Later years
Sometime prior to 1995, Psycho Mantis joined the KGB as part of its psychic intelligence division, but left a while later. On December 21, 1995, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the decree that disbanded the KGB, which was then substituted by the FSB, the current domestic state security agency of the Russian Federation. As a result, the Alpha Group was also implemented by the FSB.

Former members

 * Ocelot a.k.a. ADAM (triple agent)
 * Tatyana a.k.a. EVA (double agent)
 * EVA (NSA codebreaker) (defector)
 * Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zadornov
 * Paz Ortega Andrade (triple agent)
 * Psycho Mantis

Behind the scenes
KGB soldiers first appeared in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater as the initial enemy soldiers in Tselinoyarsk during the game's prologue, the Virtuous Mission. Depending on the actions of the player before rescuing Sokolov regarding whether the KGB soldiers spotted the player or even if the player killed any of the soldiers, Snake's response to Major Zero regarding the soldiers will be different. The voice casting sheet for Metal Gear Solid 3 indicated that the KGB soldiers, at the time of the Virtuous Mission, were in their late 20s to mid-30s.

KGB soldiers were featured as playable characters in the original Metal Gear Online, included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, which also has the leading player garnering control of Sokolov as the "leader" of the KGB Unit, should he/she get the lowest score during an operation. They also make an appearance in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops ' online mode and Portable Ops Plus as recruitable soldiers. In addition, one of them can be rescued from the prison facility as part of a spy report mission exclusive to the European version of Portable Ops, although his presence on the San Hieronymo Peninsula is not explained. "A soldier from the Soviet Commission for State Security, a.k.a. the KGB. An intelligence service under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB monitors the army and state police, and provides protection to VIPs."

- Official description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

In Metal Gear Solid 3, the KGB troops are oddly seen wearing what appears to be the ANA version of the Gorka suit, that is a single-colored fatigue uniform designed for mountain combat (the loose design was meant to be used with thermal clothing), that was designed only a decade later and first issued to special troops during the Afghan War. They also seem to use a weird version of the BVD vest, that was a canvas vest issued in Afghanistan to airborne reconnaissance units; however, it differs from the original because, instead of 3 magazine pouches, 4 grenade pouches, a radio and an IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit) pouch, they have only the magazine and grenade pouches. They also have the common short trooper's leather boots and a canvas pouch that is probably used for the gas mask.

Although the director's commentary, when covering Tikhogornyj, mentioned that the radio EVA used in the cave was meant to contact her superiors at the KGB, at the end of the game she tells Snake that she never worked for the KGB.



In late Chapter 4 of Peace Walker, Russian soldiers were seen occupying the United States missile base in Nicaragua. Although the KGB agent Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zadornov was evidentially leading the soldiers, it was left ambiguous whether the soldiers were themselves members of the KGB or if they were simply Soviet soldiers who were working with the KGB in a joint assignment to further the Soviet Union's goals.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear Solid (mentioned only)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker