Leonid Erin

Leonid Tikhonovich Erin (also transliterated as Leonid Yerin; Belarusian: Леанід Ціханавіч Ерын; born 17 November 1951) is a Belarusian-Russian security official. He previously served as Chairman of the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) from 2000 to 2004, and was also briefly Head of the State Security Service of the President of Belarus in 2000. He currently works for Russian Railways, where he has worked for two decades.

Born in Orsha in the Byelorussian SSR, Erin graduated from the Belarusian Institute of Railway Engineers and began working as an engineer in Russia before joining the KGB of the BSSR in 1974. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he began working in senior positions in the FSB of Russia, but returned to Belarus in 1995. In early 2000, he was appointed Head of the State Security Service to Alexander Lukashenko, before becoming Chairman of the KGB. Erin became well-known for making high-profile accusations of foreign interference in Belarus. He criticized the activities of the OSCE monitoring group in Minsk, and later attempted to exert more control over the KGB in the country. The KGB during his term was considered close to Russia, with him increasing cooperation between the FSB and the KGB.

However, in October 2004, after the first round of the parliamentary elections, a protest rally was held outside his office he let in opposition figures and talked with them. He was then replaced amid numerous theories by Stepan Sukhorenko. Afterwards, he moved back to Moscow and started working for Russian Railways as assistant to the CEO, and has since then continued as an adviser and on the board.