The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяспекі, КДБ; translit. Kamitet Dziaržaǔnaj Biaspieki, KDB, Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности, КГБ; translit. Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, KGB) is the national intelligence agency of Belarus. It is the only intelligence agency that kept the Russian name "KGB" after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, albeit translated into Belarusian. (The "Special Riot Police," however, are still called OMON.)
It is the Belarusian successor organization to the KGB of the Soviet Union. Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, who founded the Cheka – the original Bolshevik intelligence police – was born in what is now Belarus and remains a national hero.
Major General Vadim Zaitsev, who was in charge of Lukashenko's personal security, was appointed its leader in July 2008. His tenure lasted until November 2012 and he was replaced by Valery Vakulchik. The KGB is formally controlled by the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
Famous quotes containing the words state, security, committee and/or republic:
“In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“Happiness is peace after strife, the overcoming of difficulties, the feeling of security and well-being. The only really happy folk are married women and single men.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“The cemetery isn’t really a place to make a statement.”
—Mary Elizabeth Baker, U.S. cemetery committee head. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 15 (June 13, 1988)
“Who is this Renaissance? Where did he come from? Who gave him permission to cram the Republic with his execrable daubs?”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)