FSB Military Counterintelligence Department (3rd FSB Department)
Identification
The best-supported match is the FSB Military Counterintelligence Department, also referred to in open sources as the FSB’s 3rd Department / 3rd Service. A Polish government commission report identifies this body as military unit 70850 at “Lubyanka 12, 107031 Moscow,” while Moscow heritage records place the relevant FSB-owned building at Bolshaya Lubyanka 12/1, which likely explains the 12 vs. 12/1 address variation. ([gov.pl](https://www.gov.pl/attachment/d18fa8bb-150a-4561-8de7-19c415ffcf46))
Mission
Public descriptions of the department’s remit are consistent across reviewed sources: it is the FSB organ for military counterintelligence in the Armed Forces and other military formations, responsible for countering foreign intelligence penetration, collecting intelligence on threats to military security, countering terrorism and sabotage directed at the forces, protecting state secrets, and combating corruption and other serious crime within the troops. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/interviews/5909561))
Leadership
Nikolai Yuryev was publicly identified by TASS as chief of the department in December 2018. However, RBC reported on December 19, 2024 that Yuryev had retired and that the post was temporarily vacant, with a deputy acting and no successor publicly named. On reviewed authoritative sources, the metadata naming Yuryev should therefore be treated as historical rather than current. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/interviews/5909561))
Facility
The address is an urban administrative site, not a conventional barracks compound. Moscow heritage documentation describes Bolshaya Lubyanka 12/1 as the protected 1930-1932 “Dynamo Society residential building with club and shop,” a 7-14-storey corner structure forming the frontage of Bolshaya Lubyanka, Malaya Lubyanka, and Furkasovsky Lane. A Moscow government document states that the multifunctional complex at this address belongs to FSB Russia. ([mos.ru](https://www.mos.ru/upload/documents/files/3408/BLybyankayld12_1%28190721018%29.pdf?utm_source=openai))
Publicly reported activity
In official anniversary reporting and interview material published in December 2018, Yuryev said military counterintelligence had opened 7,500 corruption cases over the previous five years, prevented 75 billion rubles in defense-budget losses, and maintained an operational group in Syria focused on protecting Russia’s Hmeimim air base. These figures should be read as department leadership claims reported by TASS, not as independently audited totals. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/5929093))