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 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day 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)