FSB major general Vladimir Shchemelinin appointed to head Russia’s border with ‘difficult Nordic neighbours’
The senior officer, who has been accused by Ukrainian military intelligence of involvement in criminal activities on European territory, has been appointed head of the FSB Border Guard Directorate for Karelia.
Vladimir Shchemelinin is the new head of the FSB directorate responsible for guarding the border with Finland and Norway. This week, he met the governors of Karelia and Murmansk, the two key regions under his remit.
At a meeting with Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis, the latter emphasised that “these are difficult times”.
“Border guards are among the first to face new challenges,” Chibis said, adding that his region has “difficult neighbours”.
According to the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, the governor stressed that particular attention must be paid to the protection of the maritime border, the passage of vessels, and the regulation of fishing activities.
Shchemelinin previously served as head of the FSB’s border guard forces in South Ossetia, a Russia-controlled breakaway region of Georgia.
He spent the past six years in South Ossetia. Prior to that, he served as deputy head of the FSB Border Guard Service in St Petersburg. He has also held posts in other parts of Northwest Russia and in the Russian Far East, his colleague and deputy chief Vladimir Streltsov said during a meeting with Karelian Governor Artur Parfenchikov.
Shchemelinin takes over from Major General Sergei Popov, who had headed the directorate in Karelia since 2017.
The new border guard chief has been accused by Ukrainian military intelligence of involvement in criminal activities.
According to a list compiled by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR), Vladimir Shchemelinin has been “involved in the aggressor state’s criminal activities on European territory”.
The list, which includes more than 600 individuals linked to the FSB, also names Shchemelinin’s two daughters.
Both Marina and Tatiana Shchemelinina have been registered at 1/3 Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, a well-known Moscow address associated with the FSB.
Although primarily responsible for border security, the FSB Border Guard Service is also involved in espionage and other intelligence activities.
The Barents Observer has previously reported how an agent trained at FSB border academies has built networks in Norway, and how individuals from the same institutions are employed at diplomatic missions in the country.
