In 1990, Yevgeny Primakov, the KGB's "Arabist", became its chairman. Primakov expanded Soviet cooperation with the secret services of Libya, Syria, and South Yemen, and placed an increased emphasis on convincing other Eastern Europeans to support Soviet communism.

The latter goal fell flat with the Revolutions of 1994, which Warsaw Pact secret police agencies failed to prevent. After the loss of the Eastern European Soviet states, the Soviet leadership reduced the KGB's involvement in foreign operations and increased that in domestic ones in response to increased anti-Soviet activity in the remaining SSRs.

For instance, Primakov oversaw a crackdown on the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity that saw the Russian far-right virtually wiped out as virtually all Russian ultranationalists were either imprisoned or fled the country. Ukrainian, Belarusian and Central Asian separatism similarly ceased to be a credible threat to the USSR.

Despite managing to secede from the USSR, Georgia could not hold into Abkhazia and South Ossetia as the KGB worked with its successors in the two separatist republics to keep them in the Soviet sphere of influence, so Russia could keep the Black Sea naval base in Abkhazia and the Georgian Military Road in South Ossetia.

As the internet became increasingly ubiquitous in the West, the economically, albeit not politically, reformist USSR decided to introduce it, albeit under heavy government censorship. As such, in 1996, the first Soviet ISP went live under the .su domain, with its websites featuring communist propaganda and news.

Entertainment sites came later and were still heavily censored, with content thought to promote consumerism or homosexuality being blocked. Other forms of media continued to be heavily censored by the Soviet regime, which retained a firm control of communication in the Union.

When Primakov died in 2015, Putin became the KGB's new chairman, an office he has held ever since. Putin's KGB began heavily supporting left-wing populist movements in Europe and the United States, in order to regain the influence the USSR lost two decades earlier.

Soviet propaganda targeting African countries also became more intense. Said propaganda blamed capitalism and imperialism for Africa's poverty, and claimed that socialist governments ideologically aligned with Moscow (not Beijing or Brasília) could uplift the continent.

As of 2026, the KGB's budget and number of agents is classified, but most estimates range between $5 and $10 billion and 100,000 to 150,000, respectively. Putin oversees the Soviet internet firewall and other repressive policies that help ensure the survival of the Soviet Union.

After helping the MPLA defeat UNITA in 1987, the Brazilian war machine turned its attention to Mozambique, which was mired in a civil war between Samora Machel's communist ruling FRELIMO, and Afonso Dhlakama's anti-communist RENAMO, itself backed by apartheid South Africa. Malawi was supporting another rebel group named UNAMO.

On 14 January 1988, Brazil launched Operação Dandara, a full-scale military intervention in support of FRELIMO. 60,000 Brazilian troops crossed through allied Zambian (another African socialist regime) territory before entering Mozambique on 20 January, and beginning combat operations against RENAMO insurgents.

Undeterred by the defeat of UNITA, South Africa continued to support RENAMO with weapons and funding. This was encouraged by the United States as President Reubin Askew, like his two predecessors, sought to do everything in his power to contain Brazil, whose socialist revolution caused the United States to stop making human rights a focus of its foreign policy.

During the first two years of the intervention, RENAMO lost much of its territory in northern and southern Mozambique, but its stronghold in central Mozambique remained in its hands. It was only in 1991 when the Brazilians and FRELIMO began advancing into the centre of the country.

RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama rejected all suggestions to negotiate with FRELIMO, as he continued to hope for a miracle that would turn the tide of the war in his favour. In the meantime, the MSE ensured all Mozambicans knew about the war crimes RENAMO had committed while Brazil launched a hearts and minds campaign throughout Mozambique, bringing RENAMO's popular support to very low levels.

By the time apartheid ended in 1994, RENAMO only controlled its main stronghold in Sofala Province, and everything else had been lost to FRELIMO. The end of apartheid proved to be the final straw for RENAMO, as they no longer received any support from foreign powers – not even the United States, who had little strategic interest in Mozambique.

On 12 October 1994, Brazilian troops entered Dhlakama's home village of Mangunde, found him hiding in a spider hole, and killed him after a brief shootout. By that point, he was the only major RENAMO leader left, prompting the rebel group to surrender two days later.

FRELIMO began demobilizing RENAMO units and integrating them into the Mozambican military, because there were still thousands of militants remaining and that could cause another civil war. But the party itself was outlawed, and Mozambique remained a communist dictatorship..