What was the KGB's purpose?

Answer 1

The KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) or Committee for State Security, was the USSR's many layered institution consisting of various "directorates" that performed the combined functions carried out in other countries by the CIA, FBI, MI5, MI6, ASIO and other secret police, spying and intelligence agencies. The KGB's predecessors in the USSR were the NKVD, and the Cheka which was founded and headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky. The Cheka carried out torture and executions during the Russian Civil War and the Red Terror. The NKVD was instrumental in carrying out Stalin's purges of the 1930's. By whatever name it was known as at the time, the KGB was synonomous with terror, torture and death, and that was just within the USSR. KGB activities outside the USSR are legendary, and many a book has been written and movie made about their activities. The KGB headquarters were at Lubyanka Square in Moscow. The KGB was moderated and broken up after the collapse of the USSR and is now known as the FSB (Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti) or Federal Security Service.