A former KGB officer who remained in the West in the seventies, recreates the history of one of the most mysterious structures of state power - the security service of the country's rulers (from Tsar Ivan the Terrible to Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev), each of whom sought to protect himself from all kinds of conspiracy and created its own security service, which sometimes surpasses the service of its predecessor in cruelty. This book, which became a bestseller after its release in the West, tells about the specifics and methods of functioning of Russian security structures, the reasons for their creation and their importance for the state.