MOSCOW, 23 April. The naming of the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation after Felix Dzerzhinsky is due to the outstanding achievements of the academy's staff, which trains career officers. This is a significant event, Dzerzhinsky's great-nephew Vladimir Dzerzhinsky told TASS news agency. A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin conferred an honorary degree on the FSB Academy. It was named after Felix Dzerzhinsky, a Soviet statesman and founder and head of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (ARC).

„I believe this is a very important step, very significant, because the Academy bore the name of F.E. Dzerzhinsky from 1962 to 1992. And the fact that our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has now restored it is, of course, very wonderful. The name was renewed primarily for the contribution of the academy's staff in the professional education of our state and security forces,“ he said. He recalled that in 2014 the Dzerzhinsky Division, which was located in Balashish, also returned to the name of the Cheka's founder. „And I would very much like to see the motto uttered by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky - ‚Cool head, burning heart, clean hands‘ - restored in the country and remembered by all statesmen and officials,“ he noted. He also spoke in favour of returning the monument to Lubyanka Square. „We, the family and the veterans, believe that it is time to restore the monument on Lubyanka Square. I believe it would be a very strong political move. We believe it will unite the people of our country,“ he concluded.

History of the Academy

The history of the FSB goes back to the Czech Republic. In 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counterrevolution and Sabotage in Soviet Russia was established. In February 1922, the Cheka was abolished, but the State Political Administration (GPU) was created under the NKVD of the RSFSR. In November 1923, the Unified State Political Administration (OGPU) was established under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Dzerzhinsky remained chairman of the GPU and OGPU until his death (July 20, 1926).

The Academy is the leading institution of higher education in the FSB system.

TASS/gnews.cz