FSB misappropriated funds allocated for space projects – intelligence 27.03.2026 07:12 Ukrinform Russian special services have “bureaucratized” the state budget for space programs, directing significant funds to their own needs.
This was reported by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) in Telegram, as Ukrinform reports.
The agency recalled that in March 2025, Russia launched the first 16 serial satellites of the “Rassvet” group into orbit – a project that state propaganda immediately proclaimed as an answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
“The project is backed by LLC ‘Buro 1440’, a subsidiary of ‘X Holding’. Officially, 102 billion rubles are allocated from the federal budget for the development of the group within the framework of the national project ‘Data Economy’. Another 329 billion are expected from the company itself – however, there are no indications that these ‘own funds’ actually exist,” the DIU informed.
As noted, “X Holding” is not so much a technological group as a personnel reserve for the FSB.
“The first deputy general director of the holding is 29-year-old Boris Korolev – the son of FSB Deputy Director Sergey Korolev, who is already being tipped for the position of agency director. Korolev Jr. took office at the age of 27 – in 2023, when the official owner of the holding, Anton Cherepennikov, died ‘very conveniently’. He was 40. The official cause of death was overdose,” the report states.
As explained by the DIU, Cherepennikov had long been considered a nominal owner by the market, and oligarch Alisher Usmanov was named the true beneficiary of the holding.
It is noted that after the founder’s death, the shares were redistributed among managing partners, including firms in which Korolev Jr. already had stakes.
“In parallel, another notable figure appeared in the holding: 76-year-old FSB Colonel General Andrey Fetisov, former head of the special service’s scientific and technical department responsible for special equipment and encryption, became an advisor to the general director,” the agency informed.
The DIU stated that Fetisov’s son, Maxim, was appointed head of the Procurement Department, effectively making him the person who decides what surveillance equipment the agency will purchase and at what price from its own holding.
“The ‘X Holding’ portfolio is eloquent: its structure includes ‘Tsitadel’ – a developer of SORM systems, equipment for eavesdropping and traffic interception, which is installed with all telecommunications operators in accordance with the ‘Yarovaya law’. The holding also supplies technical means of threat counteraction (TZPZ) – equipment with which Roskomnadzor blocks Telegram, WhatsApp, and other services,” the message states.
As reported by the DIU, the Russian Federation allocated about 80 billion rubles solely for the implementation of TZPZ.
“Now, the same structure is ‘trusted’ with another 102 billion for satellite internet,” the agency stated.
It is noted that the scale of “Buro 1440’s” ambitions and the gap between them and reality are well illustrated by simple figures: by the end of 2030, the “Rassvet” group is expected to have 292 satellites, and by 2035 – 383.
“Starlink already maintains over 10,000 devices in orbit. The density of SpaceX’s group allows for constant visibility of at least one satellite at a 15-degree angle – this is what enabled the miniaturization and cost reduction of terminals to $350-600 per new device,” the DIU informed.
In research experiments, “Buro 1440” used Israeli-made Kymeta U8 phased array antennas, each costing about $25,000, the agency said. “Even if Russia launches the planned number of satellites into orbit – which in itself is highly unlikely – the terminal problem will remain unresolved. A mass-produced cheap terminal for a sparse group does not exist in nature,” the DIU explained.
The foreign intelligence agency recalled that Russia has already gone through this scenario.
“National search engine,” “iPhone killer,” “domestic Rolls-Royce analogue” – each of these projects received budget financing, propaganda coverage, and completion dates that were repeatedly postponed at the start. Then the projects were quietly closed. “Buro 1440″ has all the attributes of the same genre: opaque ownership, FSB personnel, unattainable deadlines, and a chasm between declared and actual capabilities,” the DIU reported.
Therefore, the project, which was supposed to become satellite internet for the entire country, is fulfilling a completely different task – to ensure a stable financial flow for structures that have long learned to convert state priorities into private income, the agency believes.
As Ukrinform reported, Russian space is becoming increasingly dependent on China.
FSB Budget RF Space Intelligence
Источник: www.ukrinform.ua