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The Telegram channel Black Mirror, known for exposing the correspondence of Russian officials and law enforcement personnel, has published a photo of General Alexei Komkov — the newly-appointed head of the FSB’s Fifth Service. The image shows Komkov with friends at a billiard table and is captioned: “from the archive exhibited in a private channel.”
When The Insider inquired into whether this archive was linked to Komkov's email correspondence, the channel's administrators answered in the affirmative.
The photo mimics a scene from the Soviet-era film “The Elusive Avengers.” Komkov (holding a pool cue) poses as a staff captain in the anti-Bolshevik army commanded by Pyotr Wrangel
General Komkov recently took over as head of the FSB's Fifth Service — the Service for Operational Information and International Relations — replacing General Sergey Beseda, who fell out of favor following the failed invasion of Ukraine and a series of corruption scandals. Before his promotion, Komkov was the deputy head of the FSB's counterintelligence service. In his short time in the new role as head of the Fifth Service, Komkov appears to have made an impact. On Aug. 1, Russia concluded a successful operation to exchange political prisoners for Russian spies convicted in the West — including FSB hitman Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany up until the swap was agreed.