Alexander Litvinenko was born in the Russian city of Voronezh, where he graduated from a Soviet secondary school in 1980. He was then drafted into the Soviet Army and rapidly rose through the ranks from private to lieutenant-colonel. In 1988, he began serving in the counter-intelligence agencies of the Soviet KGB, and in 1991, was promoted to the Central Staff of the MB-FSK-FSB of Russia, specialising in counter-terrorist activities and infiltration of organized crime. He was awarded the title of "MUR veteran" for operations conducted with MUR (Moscow criminal investigation department). Litvinenko also saw active military service in many of the so-called "hot spots" of the former USSR and Russia, and in 1997, he was again promoted to the most secret department of the Russian FSB, the Department for the Analysis of Criminal Organizations with the title of senior operational officer and deputy head of the Seventh Section.