Active reserve (KGB) officers with a military rank who worked undercover in the Soviet Union. "Trusted contacts" were high placed civilians who collaborated with the KGB without signing any official working agreements, such as directors of personnel departments at various institutions, academics, deans, or writers and actors. Informers were citizens secretly recruited by the KGB, sometimes using forceful recruitment methods, such as blackmail. The precise number of people from various categories remains unknown, but one of the estimates was 11 million "informers" in the Soviet Union, or one out of every eighteen adult citizens The active reserve was established by Yuri Andropov in
Active reserve (KGB) half are still involved in security but the other half are involved in business, political parties, NGOs, regional governments, even culture... They started to use all political institutions." Many Russian democratic politicians and businessmen hired officers of the active reserve as their closest associates. Most did this knowingly to receive the support of the powerful organization. Anatoly Sobchak asked for advice from Oleg Kalugin in 1990. He said: "I feel isolated. I need a person who can maintain contacts with the KGB, which controls the city". Very soon Sobchak hired Vladimir Putin who allegedly remained in the active reserve at