Generals’ war in the FSB: why Sergey Demyanishnikov failed to get along with Sergey Sapunkov in the central apparatus

Generals’ war in the FSB: why Sergey Demyanishnikov failed to get along with Sergey Sapunkov in the central apparatus

25 марта 2026 г.

Mikhail Zhurenkov

A source claims that the planned appointment of Sergey Demyanishnikov, head of the FSB’s T Directorate, as chief of the Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Directorate may be linked to his ongoing conflict with Sergey Sapunkov, the FSB’s head of personnel.

According to the report, the rivalry between the two generals has drawn in the broader FSB leadership, making their continued coexistence within the central administration untenable

According to the source, everything started because of Sapunkov’s nephew. The relative of the chief of personnel had been seconded to the T Directorate, but for some reason, Demyanishnikov took a dislike to him and demanded that the man be removed from the T Directorate. This offended Sapunkov.

Sapunkov activated his resources in the FSB’s Security Service (USB) and a number of serious patrons.

Demyanishnikov also had influential friends. For example, he was a close friend of Yevgeny Zinichev, the Minister of EMERCOM and former deputy director of the FSB, who died under strange circumstances at a waterfall near Norilsk in 2021.

As a result, the matter reached the level of deputy directors. FSB Chief of Economic Security Sergey Alpatov, who had previously been Demyanishnikov’s superior in Directorate M and is considered his patron, tried to reconcile the generals—but to no avail.

It became clear that “two elephants in a china shop” could no longer work together. And while transferring the chief of personnel would have been a complicated matter, they found a position for the head of the T Directorate in Saint Petersburg, just as the head of the local FSB office was retiring.

Generals’ war in the FSB: why Sergey Demyanishnikov failed to get along with Sergey Sapunkov in the central apparatus

Generals’ war in the FSB: why Sergey Demyanishnikov failed to get along with Sergey Sapunkov in the central apparatus