The Sluzhba vneshney razvedki (SVR) or Foreign Intelligence Service continues to be an extremely potent organisation and key component of Russia’s Security Council in implementing the foreign policy aims of the Kremlin. Accusations of election interference, social-manipulation and widespread cyber attacks have put a spotlight on this branch of the Russian intelligence services. This article will provide an overview of the SVR, outlining its origins from the 1990s and how it operates in relation to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. It will then detail the SVR’s utilisation of active measures (aktivnye meropriyatiya) in the Kremlin’s continuing conflict with the West.