The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF) (Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n: Совет Безопасности Российской Федерации) is a consultative body of the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n President that works out the President's decisions on national security

National security

National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...

 affairs. Composed of key ministers and agency heads and chaired by the President of Russia, the SCRF was established to be a forum for coordinating and integrating national security policy. It is the successor of the Security Council of the USSR

Security Council of the Soviet Union

The Security Council of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in 1990. The head of this organ was the President of the Soviet Union, he had the power to elect all members of the council...

.

Since its formation, it apparently has gradually lost influence in competition with other power centers in the presidential administration. However, the June 1996 appointment of former army general and presidential candidate Alexander Lebed to head the Security Council improved prospects for the organization's standing. In July 1996, a presidential decree assigned the Security Council a wide variety of new missions. The decree's description of the Security Council's consultative functions was especially vague and wide-ranging, although it positioned the head of the Security Council directly subordinate to the president. As had been the case previously, the Security Council was required to hold meetings at least once a month.

The Security Council draws up crucial documents defining conceptual approaches to national security. Regular meetings of the Security Council are held according to a schedule set by the Chairman (the President of Russia); if necessary, the Council can hold extraordinary meetings. The Chairman defines the agenda and order of the day based on recommendations by the Secretary of the Security Council. The Chairman presides over meetings, while the Secretary holds working meetings with Council members on a regular basis.

It has been argued that the coordinating role defined for the Security Council in the National Security Strategy to 2020, published in May 2009, represents a strengthening of its influence and importance within Russian governance under its new Secretary Nikolay Patrushev.

Secretaries of the Security Council

• Yury Skokov (1992—1993)
• Yevgeny Shaposhnikov
  Yevgeny Shaposhnikov
  Yevgeny Ivanovich Shaposhnikov is a Russian military leader and business figure, Marshal of Aviation .Shaposhnikov was born on a farm near Aksay in Rostov Oblast Russia...
  
   (1993),
• Oleg Lobov
  Oleg Lobov
  Oleg Ivanovich Lobov is a Russian politician who served as acting First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic) from 19th April 1991 - 15th November 1991 and also was acting Chairman of the Council of Ministers – Government of the Russian...
  
   (1993—1996),
• Aleksandr Lebed
  Aleksandr Lebed
  Alexander Ivanovich Lebed was a Russian lieutenant-general and politician. He placed third in the 1996 Russian presidential election, with 14.5% of the vote nationwide. He later served as Russia's Secretary of the Security Council and as governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia's second largest region...
  
   (1996),
• Ivan Rybkin
  Ivan Rybkin
  Ivan Petrovich Rybkin is a Russian politician; was Chairman of Russia's State Duma in 1994–96 and Secretary of the Security Council in 1996–98.-Early life:...
  
   (1996—1998),
• Andrei Kokoshin (1998),
• Nikolai Bordyuzha
  Nikolai Bordyuzha
  Nikolay Nikolayevich Bordyuzha is a Russian general and politician.In 1972, he graduated from Perm Military School of the High command of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and later attended KGB intelligence courses in Novosibirsk....
  
   (1998—1999),
• Vladimir Putin
  Vladimir Putin
  Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
  
   (1998-1999),
• Sergei Ivanov
  Sergei Ivanov
  Sergei Borisovich Ivanov is a Russian senior official and statesman. He was Minister of Defence from March 2001 to February 2007, Deputy Prime Minister from November 2005 to February 2007, and the First Deputy Prime Minister from February 2007 to May 2008...
  
   (1999—2001)
• Vladimir Rushailo
  Vladimir Rushailo
  Vladimir Borisovich Rushailo is a Russian politician.From 1999 to 2001, he was the Interior Minister of Russia, and Secretary of Security Council from 2001 to 2004. As the Minister of the Interior, he was charged with overseeing the security of sensitive internal sites and materials such as...
  
   (2001—2004)
• Igor Ivanov
  Igor Ivanov
  Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov is a Russian politician and was Russian Foreign Minister from 1998 to 2004.- Early life :...
  
   (2004-2007)
• Valentin Sobolev (2007- 12 May 2008)
• Nikolai Patrushev (since 12 May 2008)

External links

Official Site (in Russian)

Agentura.ru (in Russian)

Information in English