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There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The
Okhrana
The Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order (), usually called the Guard Department () and commonly abbreviated in modern English sources as the Okhrana ( rus , Охрана, p=ɐˈxranə, a=Ru-охрана.ogg, t= The Guard) w ...
was abolished by the Provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...
after the first revolution of 1917, and the first secret police
image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression.
Secre ...
after the October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
, created by Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
's decree on December 20, 1917, was called "Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
" (ЧК). Officers were referred to as " chekists", a name that is still informally applied to people under the Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...
of Russia, the KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
's successor in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
.
For most agencies listed here, secret policing operations were only part of their function; for instance, the KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
was both a secret police and an intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy obj ...
.
History of the Soviet state security organs
Detailed chronology
*Cheka
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
(abbreviation of ''Vecheka'', itself an acronym for "All-Russian Extraordinary Committee to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage" of the Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
)
**Felix Dzerzhinsky
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...
(December 20, 1917 – July 7, 1918)
**Yakov Peters Yakov (alternative spellings: Jakov or Iakov, cyrl, Яков) is a Russian or Hebrew variant of the given names Jacob and James. People also give the nickname Yasha ( cyrl, Яша) or Yashka ( cyrl, Яшка) used for Yakov.
Notable people
People ...
(July 7, 1918 – August 22, 1918)
**Felix Dzerzhinsky
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...
(August 22, 1918 – February 6, 1922)
February 6, 1922: Cheka transforms into GPU, a department of the NKVD of the Russian SFSR.
*NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
– "People's Commissariat
A People's Commissariat (; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917–1946 which functioned as the central executive ...
for Internal Affairs"
**GPU
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal ...
– State Political Directorate
***Dzerzhinsky (February 6, 1922 – November 15, 1923)
November 15, 1923: GPU leaves the NKVD and becomes all-union OGPU under direct control of the Council of People's Commissars
The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...
of the USSR.
*OGPU
The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
– "Joint State Political Directorate" or "All-Union State Political Board"
**Dzerzhinsky (November 15, 1923 – July 20, 1926)
**Vyacheslav Menzhinsky
Vyacheslav Rudolfovich Menzhinsky (, ; – 10 May 1934) was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who served as chairman of the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union, from 1926 to 1934.
Born to Polish parents in Saint Petersburg, Menzhins ...
(July 30, 1926 – May 10, 1934)
July 10, 1934: NKVD of the Russian SFSR ceases to exist and transforms into the all-union NKVD of the USSR; OGPU becomes GUGB
The Main Directorate of State Security (, Главное управление государственной безопасности, ГУГБ, GUGB) was the name of the Soviet Union's most important security body within the People's Commissari ...
("Main Directorate for State Security") in the all-union NKVD.
*NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
– "People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs"
**GUGB
The Main Directorate of State Security (, Главное управление государственной безопасности, ГУГБ, GUGB) was the name of the Soviet Union's most important security body within the People's Commissari ...
– "Main Directorate for State Security"
***Genrikh Yagoda
Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (, born Yenokh Gershevich Iyeguda; 7 November 1891 – 15 March 1938) was a Soviet secret police official who served as director of the NKVD, the Soviet Union's security and intelligence agency, from 1934 to 1936. A ...
(July 10, 1934 – September 26, 1936)
***Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov ( rus, Николай Иванович Ежов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ (j)ɪˈʐof; 1 May 1895 – 4 February 1940), also spelt Ezhov, was a Soviet Chekism, secret police official under Joseph Stalin who ...
(September 26, 1936 – November 25, 1938)
***Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...
(November 1938 – February 3, 1941)
February 3, 1941: The GUGB of the NKVD was briefly separated out into the NKGB, then merged back in, and then on April 14, 1943, separated out again.
*NKGB
The People's Commissariat for State Security () or NKGB, was the name of the Soviet secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence force that existed from 3 February 1941 to 20 July 1941, and again from 1943 to 1946, before being rename ...
– "People's Commissariat for State Security"
**Vsevolod Merkulov
Vsevolod Nikolayevich (Boris) Merkulov (; – 23 December 1953) was the head of NKGB from February to July 1941, and again from April 1943 to March 1946. He was a leading member of what was later derisively described as the " Beria gang".
Earl ...
(February 3, 1941 – July 20, 1941) (NKGB folded back into NKVD)
*NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...
– "People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs"
**GUGB
The Main Directorate of State Security (, Главное управление государственной безопасности, ГУГБ, GUGB) was the name of the Soviet Union's most important security body within the People's Commissari ...
– "Main Directorate for State Security"
***Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...
(July 20, 1941 – April 14, 1943)
*NKGB
The People's Commissariat for State Security () or NKGB, was the name of the Soviet secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence force that existed from 3 February 1941 to 20 July 1941, and again from 1943 to 1946, before being rename ...
– "People's Commissariat for State Security"
**Vsevolod Merkulov (April 14, 1943 – March 18, 1946) (NKGB reseparated from NKVD)
March 18, 1946: All People's Commissariat
A People's Commissariat (; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917–1946 which functioned as the central executive ...
s were renamed to Ministries
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
.
* MGB – "Ministry of State Security"
**Viktor Abakumov
Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov (; 24 April 1908 – 19 December 1954) was a high-level Soviet security official who from 1943 to 1946 was the head of SMERSH in the USSR People's Commissariat of Defense, and from 1946 to 1951 of the Minister of St ...
(March 18, 1946 – July 14, 1951)
**Sergei Ogoltsov
Sergei Ivanovich Ogoltsov (; 29 August 1900 – 30 December 1976Semyon Ignatyev (August 9, 1951 – March 5, 1953)
The East German secret police, the
Retrieved August 20, 2011. **
March 13, 1954: Newly independent force became the
The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)
has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks with evidence of Soviet espionage in the United States during the Cold War
{{Soviet Union topics 01 Secret police Soviet intelligence agencies Soviet secret police agencies Defunct intelligence agencies Politics of the Soviet Union Human rights in the Soviet Union . . Political repression in the Soviet Union
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
, took their name from this iteration.
* – "Committee of Information" (foreign intelligence service) Svetlana Chervonnaya, KI briefing from the Russian side, H-HOAC Discussion, March 17, 2005Retrieved August 20, 2011. **
Peter Fedotov
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
MGB
** Fedor Kuznetsov GRU
Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series.
Gru or GRU may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper
* Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga''
Organizations Georgia (c ...
**Yakov Malik
Yakov Aleksandrovich Malik (;; 11 February 1980) was a Soviet diplomat.
Biography
Born in Ostroverkhivka village, Kharkov Governorate to a peasant family, Malik was educated at Kharkiv Institute of National Economy (1930). Then, he worked a ...
Foreign Ministry
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...
May 30, 1947: Official decision with the expressed purpose of "upgrading coordination of different intelligence services and concentrating their efforts on major directions". In the summer of 1948 the military personnel in KI were returned to the Soviet military
The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...
to reconstitute foreign military intelligence service (GRU
Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series.
Gru or GRU may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper
* Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga''
Organizations Georgia (c ...
). KI sections dealing with the new East Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
and Soviet émigrés were returned to the MGB in late 1948. In 1951 the KI returned to the MGB.
March 5, 1953: MVD and MGB are merged into the MVD by Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...
.
*MVD
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; , ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia.
The MVD is responsible for law enforcement in Russia through its agencies the Police of Russia, Migration ...
– "Ministry of Internal Affairs"
**Lavrentiy Beria (March 5, 1953 – June 26, 1953)
** Sergei Kruglov (June 26, 1953 – March 13, 1954)
March 13, 1954: Newly independent force became the KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
, as Beria was purged and the MVD divested itself again of the functions of secret policing. After renamings and tumults, the KGB remained stable until 1991.
*KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
– Committee for State Security
**Ivan Serov
Ivan Alexandrovich Serov (; 13 August 1905 – 1 July 1990) was a Soviet intelligence officer who served as Chairman of the KGB from March 1954 to December 1958 and Director of the GRU from December 1958 to February 1963. Serov was NKVD Commis ...
(March 13, 1954 – December 8, 1958)
** Alexander Shelepin (December 25, 1958 – November 13, 1961)
**Vladimir Semichastny
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny (; ; 15 January 1924 – 12 January 2001) was a Soviet politician, who served as Chairman of the KGB from November 1961 to May 1967. A protégé of Alexander Shelepin, he rose through the ranks of the Communist ...
(November 13, 1961 – May 18, 1967)
**Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
(May 18, 1967 – May 26, 1982)
**Vitaly Fedorchuk
Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk (; ; 27 December 1918 – 29 February 2008) was a Soviet security and intelligence officer and politician who served as Chairman of the Committee for State Security of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1 ...
(May 26, 1982 – December 17, 1982)
**Viktor Chebrikov
Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov (; 27 April 1923 – 2 July 1999) was a Soviet public official and security administrator and head of the KGB from December 1982 to October 1988.Montgomery, Isobel (7 July 1999)Viktor Chebrikov: KGB chief who favoure ...
(December 17, 1982 – October 1, 1988)
**Vladimir Kryuchkov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (; 29 February 1924 – 23 November 2007) was a Soviet lawyer, diplomat, and head of the KGB, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Initially working in the Soviet justice system a ...
(October 1, 1988 – August 28, 1991)
**Leonid Shebarshin
Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin (; 24 March 1935 – 30 March 2012) was an intelligence officer and spy for the Soviet Union. He served in the First Chief Directorate (FCD), the foreign intelligence arm of the KGB. In January 1989, he was pr ...
(August 22, 1991 – August 23, 1991) (acting)
**Vadim Bakatin
Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin (; 6 November 1937 – 31 July 2022) was a Russian politician who served as the last chairman of the KGB in 1991. He was the last surviving former chairman of this organization. He was appointed to dismantle the KGB, b ...
(August 29, 1991 – December 3, 1991)
In 1991, after the State Emergency Committee failed to overthrow Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Commu ...
and Yeltsin took over, General Vadim Bakatin
Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin (; 6 November 1937 – 31 July 2022) was a Russian politician who served as the last chairman of the KGB in 1991. He was the last surviving former chairman of this organization. He was appointed to dismantle the KGB, b ...
was given instructions to dissolve the KGB.
In Russia today, KGB functions are performed by the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Counterintelligence Service
The Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation (FSK RF; rus, Федеральная служба контрразведки Российской Федерации, p=fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnəjə ˈsluʐbə kəntrɐzˈvʲetkʲɪ r ...
which later became the Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation СБ, ФСБ России (FSB) is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB; its immediate predecessor was the Federal Counterin ...
of the Russian Federation (FSB) in 1995, and the Federal Protective Service (FSO). The GRU
Gru is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Despicable Me'' film series.
Gru or GRU may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Gru (rapper), Serbian rapper
* Gru, an antagonist in '' The Kine Saga''
Organizations Georgia (c ...
continues to operate as well.
Leadership
See also
* * * *Commanders of the border troops USSR and RF
Commanders (in chief) – in the meaning of chief, commander, commanding general, supreme commander, or manager, etc. – of the border troops and organs of state security of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR and the Russian Federation, ...
*Director of the Federal Security Service
The Director of Russia's Federal Security Service (Директор Федеральной Службы Безопасности) is the head and chief executive officer of the Federal Security Service, which is one of several Russian Intelligenc ...
*Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service
The Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (D/SVR) serves as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, which is one of several Russian intelligence agencies. The Director of SVR reports directly to the Preside ...
*FAPSI
FAPSI () or Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information (FAGCI) () was a Russian government agency, which was responsible for signal intelligence and security of governmental communications.
The present-day FAPSI successor agen ...
– State communications, formed from the former 8th and 16th Directorates of KGB
The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
and later merged into FSB
* List of chairmen of the KGB
* Poison laboratory of the Soviet secret services
Notes
External links
The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)
has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks with evidence of Soviet espionage in the United States during the Cold War
{{Soviet Union topics 01 Secret police Soviet intelligence agencies Soviet secret police agencies Defunct intelligence agencies Politics of the Soviet Union Human rights in the Soviet Union . . Political repression in the Soviet Union