These people used to be the servants of the Communist Party - now they just serve whoever pays them. Mr Chelnokov said FSB officers had been known to moonlight to supplement their meagre state salaries. FSB men in ski masks raided the organisation in May, and later alleged that the company's bodyguards had been spying on its own journalists. Media-Most's founder, Vladimir Gusinsky, was subsequently jailed on fraud charges. The problem is not confined to private firms, however.
Many observers say the state is still the main culprit.
You can't have a confidential conversation on the phone any more. Mr Padva has noted a sharp rise in the number of cases in which prosecutors have bugged a suspect's phone before the official start of criminal proceedings - a move that is illegal under Russian law. Transcripts of the suspect's conversations are then used as evidence in court. One such transcript, he said, was of talks between a lawyer and his client. Campaigners for the right to privacy have also raised the alarm over moves by the FSB to install monitoring equipment at internet service providers, enabling agents to read all electronic correspondence, as part of the fight against terrorism and organised crime.