The FSB Academy in Moscow has been awarded the honorary designation "named after Felix Dzerzhinsky," according to a decree by Vladimir Putin.
The document says the decision was made in view of the academy staff’s "merits," as well as the "outstanding contribution to ensuring state security by F. E. Dzerzhinsky."
The institution had previously borne Dzerzhinsky’s name from 1962 to 1992, when it was known as the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR.
"With one hand we ban \"Memorial,\" close the Gulag Museum, and demolish monuments to victims of repression. With the other, we give Dzerzhinsky’s name to the FSB Academy. As they say, what other sign do you need?" journalist Dmitry Kolezev wrote.
Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926) was a Soviet revolutionary and one of the key architects of the system of political terror after the Bolsheviks came to power. In 1917, he headed the Cheka, an extraordinary body tasked with fighting "counterrevolution." The FSB is considered the successor to the Cheka through the line of state security agencies.