National Security Service (Uzbekistan)
| Milliy Xavfsizlik Xizmati Служба национальной безопасности |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | Around 1991, following collapse of USSR |
| Preceding | |
| Type | Intelligence, internal security, secret police |
| Jurisdiction |
 Uzbekistan
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| Agency executive | |
| Child agencies | |
The National Security Service (Uzbek Milliy Xavfsizlik Xizmati, MXX; in Russian Служба национальной безопасности, СНБ, often romanised as SNB) is the national intelligence agency of the government of Uzbekistan. It was created as a successor to the KGB following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and retains the same responsibilities and a similar range of functional units, including paramilitary police and special forces. The SNB was a rival of the Interior Ministry until 2005, when it was brought under its control.
The SNB is described by Amnesty International and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting as a secret police force.
Rustam Inoyatov has been the head of the SNB since 1995.
The deputy director of the SNB was in 2005 appointed Minister of the Interior. A reorganisation of the security and counter-terrorism agencies in the aftermath of the Andijan massacre significantly increased the power and resources of the SNB.
Some analysts maintain that the SNB is under the control of the Tashkent clan, a powerful faction within the Uzbek elite.
The SNB has been closely associated with the authoritarian administration of President Islam Karimov, and has been accused of involvement in human rights abuses and in sponsoring acts of terrorism to provide a pretext for repressive policing. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has reported claims that the 1999 Tashkent bombings were carried out by the SNB, then led by Rustam Inoyatov of the Tashkent clan, and that the SNB may also have been responsible for a series of bombings in 2004 in Tashkent and Bukhara.
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Wikipedia