Abstract. The main emphasis of V.I. Trubnikov’s speech is the role of Y.M. Primakov in maintaining the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). The affirmation that Yevgeny Maksimovich «saved the intelligence» is not an exaggeration.He did it primarily by opening of the Intelligence Service to society, to the people. At the initiative of Y.M. Primakov the Office of Public Relations was established within the Foreign Intelligence Service, as well as a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Service Law was prepared and adopted in 1995.As the head of the SVR Y.M. Primakov arduously started to upgrade the work in the information and analytical field. The open reports of the Foreign Intelligence Service raised issues and problems, that are still extremely important today. The first open report by the SVR was dedicated to the new challenges, threats and the dangers of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. A very important problem of relationship between Russia and neighboring countries was also raised; it became the subject of a special report, «The CIS and Russia: Does the Position of the West Need Correction?». This SVR report still remains one of the most significant and topical today.