In the Russian political lexicon, a silovik is a person who works for any state organisation that is authorised to use force against citizens or others. Examples are the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian national police, Russian national drug control, Russian immigration control (GUVM), the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Security Service (FSB), former KGB personnel, GRU, the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO). This word is also used for a politician who came into politics from these organisations.
Sergei Ivanov and Nikolai Patrushev at a meeting of Vladimir Putin with officers and prosecutors appointed to senior positions, April 2015
Putin with Sergey Lavrov, Alexander Bortnikov, and Sergei Naryshkin, 19 December 2016
Igor Sechin is often described as one of the closest siloviki to Vladimir Putin. His nickname is Darth Vader [citation needed].
Counterintelligence state
Counterintelligence state is a state where the state security service penetrates and permeates all societal institutions, including the military. The term has been applied by historians and political commentators to the former Soviet Union, the former German Democratic Republic, Cuba after the 1959 revolution, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and post-Soviet Russia under Vladimir Putin, especially since 2012.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev at a meeting of the board of the Federal Security Service in 2002
![Igor Sechin is often described as one of the closest siloviki to Vladimir Putin. His nickname is Darth Vader [citation needed].](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Igor_Sechin1_%28cropped%29.jpg/468px-Igor_Sechin1_%28cropped%29.jpg)
