kgb-21.r52.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod "Association of Security Enterprises 'KGB'," operating under the sign "Concept of Civil Security — 21st Century." The association, as its home page reported, was organized on December 2, 1999, and received license No. 18/54 to provide security services on December 10, 1999, from the licensing authority of the Moskovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod[1]. The address in the Nizhny Novgorod r52.ru zone appeared in the nn.ru directory, in the section "Firms (Enterprises): Security, security systems," as early as May 2002[2]. The last snapshot of the home page preserved in the web archive is dated August 6, 2007[1].

What the site offered

The nn.ru directory entry described the firm's business as follows: "Providing comprehensive information and technical security for facilities, protection of citizens' personal property, armed escort of cargo, installation of video equipment and fire and security alarm systems, a full range of legal services"[2].

The company's own home page was a single-page narrative about the enterprise, with no price lists or request forms. It opened with musings on the instinct of self-preservation; as the home page put it, "in today's world, changing by the minute, security has become a matter for professionals"[1]. What followed was information about the association itself: a team of more than a hundred people, operating in the Nizhny Novgorod security services market since 1999, with managers who were former army officers and law-enforcement personnel with experience commanding special military units[1]. More than twenty state, municipal, and commercial organizations were named as clients, among them divisions of OAO Gazprom, OAO GAZ, and the Gorky Railway[1]. The claim that the association "confidently ranks among the top five in the security field" is the site's own self-assessment, unsupported by anything else on the page[1].

The association consisted of several legal entities: OOO OP Derzhava, OOO OP KGB, and OOO OP KGB-21 vek. A separate note stated that the divisions operated under different tax regimes — with VAT and without VAT — with OOO OP Derzhava exempt from VAT[1]. The page title and the signature at the bottom were geared toward search: "Security enterprise Nizhny Novgorod"[1]. The spelled-out name on the page itself was misspelled twice — "Концепция гражданской безопастности" (a misspelling of "security")[1].

Securing mass events

The only substantive list of work on the site related to 2004: according to the home page, the association's enterprises maintained public order on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment and Minin Square. Named events include the 10th anniversary of MTS (20,000 people), a concert by the group Blestyashchiye (12,000), a concert by the group Otpetye Moshenniki (10,000), a presentation of Pantech mobile phones (14,000), a presentation and rally of new UAZ car models (8,000), and a Vitas concert at the A. S. Pushkin Opera and Ballet Theater[1]. The same page states that at mass events the association worked alongside special units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs — OMON and BSN[1].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site remained a directory phenomenon rather than a ratings one. In the nn.ru directory, entries were sorted by counter rating, and next to "Concept of Civil Security" stood "Rating: none," while its neighbors in the section had numbers: PKB Spetstekhniki PROTEKT — 21.71, OOO OP Forpost NN — 1.84, OOO PO-AKB — 0.65[2]. In our preserved samples of the Counter.nn.ru rating, the address does not appear, and it is not listed in the results table of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote for 2004[3]. This is the ordinary fate of a corporate calling card: in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, such pages lived not by traffic but by being found through a directory — material on this is gathered in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating.

How it closed

The page hardly changed: in the 2007 snapshot, the list of events still broke off at 2004, and the phrase "starting in 1999 and continuing to this day" was left unfinished[1]. The last snapshot of the home page in the web archive is dated August 6, 2007[1]; there is no information in the available materials about the site moving to another address.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, section "Firms (Enterprises): Security, security systems," 2002 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Voting results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, 2004 (archive)