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Executive Protection in Moscow

Executive protection in Moscow. FCDO advises against all travel to Russia. High-complexity environment requiring specialist assessment for any residual corporate exposure.

Moscow represents a categorically different executive protection environment from any other city covered in this service. The UK FCDO advises against all travel to Russia - its highest advisory level - a position maintained since February 2022 and reflecting assessed risks of arbitrary detention, restricted consular access, heightened FSB intelligence service scrutiny of Western nationals, and infrastructure disruption from the ongoing conflict. This page is provided for informational purposes for organisations managing residual Russia exposure, not as an endorsement of travel to Moscow under the current advisory.

For any residual Moscow engagement that requires physical presence - legacy asset management, regulated wind-down activity, or legal proceedings - the prerequisite is a specialist high-risk EP and legal assessment that explicitly addresses the FCDO advisory, the principal’s legal exposure profile, and the consular access limitations that apply if detention occurs. Physical close protection by Rosguard-licensed personnel remains technically available but does not mitigate the legal and intelligence service risks that are the primary concern in the current environment.

For broader Russia security context, see our Moscow city page and our bodyguard hire Moscow and security drivers Moscow service pages.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

The UK FCDO advises against all travel to Russia, its highest advisory level, maintained since February 2022 and in place as at June 2026. This advisory reflects assessed risks including arbitrary detention of Western nationals, significant restrictions on British consular access to detained nationals, heightened FSB intelligence service activity targeting Western visitors, and infrastructure risk from the ongoing conflict. For UK corporate principals, the advisory means that any Moscow travel should only proceed after explicit board-level risk acceptance, specialist legal and security assessment, and with full awareness that British consular assistance may be significantly constrained. Close protection does not mitigate the legal and detention risks embedded in this environment.

Prior to February 2022, Moscow’s EP threat environment for Western corporate principals was primarily characterised by FSB surveillance of energy, banking, and technology sector executives; organised crime protection requirements for principals with Russian business interests; business dispute-related violence in sectors with concentrated ownership conflicts; and corporate kidnapping risk for oil and gas executives, which was assessed as low in Moscow itself but required planning nonetheless. These risk strands have not been eliminated by the February 2022 context but are now overlaid by materially more acute risks, including arbitrary detention, restricted consular access, and heightened scrutiny of all Western corporate activity.

For residual Moscow engagements that proceed with full specialist assessment and explicit risk acceptance, Rosguard-licensed local EP capacity remains available. However, Western EP providers operating through Moscow-registered entities face materially more complex legal compliance requirements since February 2022, and the intelligence service environment means that a Western EP footprint in Moscow can itself attract attention that a purely local provision might not. Any assessment of Moscow EP feasibility must be conducted by specialists with current Russia risk expertise and must explicitly address the FCDO advisory, the legal framework for the principal’s specific activity, and the consular access limitations for British nationals detained in Russia.

For any residual Moscow engagement, information security is not a peripheral component of the EP brief - it is a primary operational dimension. Essential measures include travel-dedicated devices with no access to principal’s corporate systems, encrypted communications through independently assessed platforms, full device management protocols from pre-departure to post-return (including the assumption that hotel rooms, meeting venues, and vehicles are subject to monitoring), briefing on documented FSB elicitation and surveillance techniques, and post-visit device review. These measures reflect the documented intelligence service operating environment in Moscow as assessed by multiple Western national intelligence services in open source materials.
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