In the fall of 1938, Comrade Yezhov wrote a letter to the Politburo asking to be released from his job as People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR. On November 24, the Politburo granted the request in view of the reasons stated in the statement, and also taking into account his painful condition. And a couple of months later it was established that Comrade Yezhov was a well-covered spy and Trotskyist.
The city of Yezhovo-Cherkessk was renamed for this occasion, posters about “hedgehog gloves” were removed, songs based on the words of Dzhambul about “batyr Yezhov” were excluded from the repertoire... Yezhov himself was tortured and shot.
And Comrade Beria was put in charge of the NKVD. But in 1953, Comrade Beria turned out to be an English spy, a scoundrel and a destroyer of personnel. He was also shot.
By the way, comrades Abakumov and Merkulov, who also headed the state security agencies at different times, were also shot. And even before Yezhov, Yagoda, also a spy and libertine (a collector of pornographic postcards), was shot.
“The investigation materials in the Yezhov case were partially published by different researchers, because they could be found in a scattered state in the archival investigative files of other persons involved in the NKVD. The FSB Central Archive does not release the Yezhov case itself,” says Nikita Petrov, author of our best book about Stalin’s People’s Commissar Yezhov.
It’s the same with Yagoda. And with Abakumov. And with Merkulov. And with Beria. And, actually, why? But because they have not been rehabilitated, and their investigative cases for this reason are firmly closed.
Logic is inaccessible, but there is no other.
And again Petrov: “There are clear provisions of the law “On State Secrets”: the period for classifying documents is 30 years. This is the extreme, highest limit. But it can be extended, it is written in the law, in exceptional cases based on the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission. And when we talk about the system of declassifying archives itself, we must ask ourselves the question: are these gigantic lists that are sent to the MVK for renewal - is this all an exceptional case? If we look at how much of the FSB documentation for the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s has been declassified, and how much is still secret, we will see that the only exception is declassification...”
“He knows me from working together”
But the Security Service of Ukraine has long opened all archival files relating to Stalin’s repressions; so that among the actual Ukrainian materials, it suddenly became available that Moscow sent to all regions of the Union: instructions, methodological instructions, orders, and also departmental correspondence concerning specific cases and characters, victims of terror and executioners. Everything that the FSB of the Russian Federation continues to keep under lock and key, because “deciphering the working methods” of the political police of a non-existent country can cause irreparable damage to the security of the new Russia.
Therefore, everyone who is going to study the history of repressions in the USSR goes not to Moscow, but to Kyiv or, say, Chisinau. Here they do not consider it necessary to protect the secrets of the NKVD and the good name of the executioners, and they do not strive to cover up the crimes of others.
On the eve of the Chekist anniversary, a thick, carefully documented book, “Chekists in the Dock,” was published by a Moscow publishing house, prepared by researchers from different countries based on materials from the archives of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. There are no Russian chapters in the book.
So, over the course of a year and a half of the Great Terror in Ukraine, five, or something like, People's Commissars of Internal Affairs were replaced, all five were energetic people who began their activities in the new post in exactly the same way - by clearing out the personnel inherited from their predecessor. Moreover, this cleansing was carried out directly by the comrades of those being cleaned up.
“...I answered Pertsov that I was not guilty, that he knew me from working together since 1932 as a decent person. Pertsov immediately knocked me off the chair onto the floor and began to beat me with his feet, and Kryukov took the baton he had brought from the window sill and began to beat me with it... Pertsov beat me with the toes of his boots all over my body, and when I was sick from the beating, Pertsov grabbed me by the head and started poking his face into the vomit.”
And then (after the arrest of the next People’s Commissar) this Pertsov himself was put on trial, received a prison term and ended his life in 1948 in a Kolyma logging camp.
“Heading a special operational investigative group, PERTSOV committed the grossest distortions of socialist legality... he allowed perverted methods of investigation in relation to the arrested NKVD officers, who did not have any incriminating materials... provocatively, using physical measures, forced them to give deliberately false testimony... During the existence of this group, that is, from February 21 to April 30, 1938, 241 employees were arrested, and as a result of the use of physical coercion... some of those arrested could not stand torture and died during interrogation (Frenkel, Shor, Taruts, etc.) ..."
In total, during the years of terror in the USSR, 20,000 security officers were subjected to repression. These include the deputy head of the NKVD Directorate for the Kharkov region, David Aronovich Pertsov, born in 1909, and his colleagues who were tortured by him. Who, in turn, themselves (judging by the materials of the same trial) did not know any other ways to obtain confessions. But they knew: “It is better to beat the enemy well and be responsible for what he beat, than not to touch him and for this be responsible to the party.” This is how the security officers were instructed, in particular, by the then secretary of the Kharkov regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Bolsheviks) Comrade Osipov, who himself was soon repressed.
The chain of times will not fall apart! The Academy of Russian Symbolism “Mars” offers a set of memorial signs for the anniversary, including portraits of Dzerzhinsky, Beria and Abakumov. In the annotation, the academicians write: “100 years of the history of the Cheka-KGB-FSB were spent guarding the interests and security of the Fatherland. The history of the department is full of bright pages and outstanding personalities, and is always shrouded in a veil of secrecy..."
Wajda's wife was crying
It was not by chance that I chose the chapter “Kharkov” from this book.
Just before my arrival here, the head of the Kharkov human rights center, Evgeniy Efimovich Zakharov, sent an email with the names of those who, in his opinion, could help me on this business trip, and added:
“It’s a pity that I won’t be able to be at home these days and meet you. Have you been to Kharkov? At the end of the building of the regional police department hangs a memorial plaque in memory of the dead Poles near the entrance to the courtyard; in 1940, there was a commandant’s office in this place, in which they shot and threw corpses into the back of a truck that drove up to the commandant’s office in the very place where the gate is now. The truck transported the corpses to the forest park, where they were buried; now there is a memorial cemetery at this place in the forest park.
At one time I showed all this to Andrzej Wajda; his father, Captain Jakub Wajda, was shot here. Vaida was with his wife, she was sobbing continuously, and he had a completely motionless face and did not make a sound. Only at the end, when he said goodbye, he smiled and thanked me, and a week later they called me to the Consulate General of Poland and gave me the “Katyn” disc from him ( film by Andrzej Wajda. — Ed.) with an autograph..."
Taking this opportunity, I thank Zakharov and those whom he recommended to me - Lyudmila Borisovna Rovchak and Igor Vladimirovich Shuisky, the leaders of the organization with the cumbersome name "Communal Institution" Editorial and Publishing Group Kharkov Volumes "Rehabilitated by History" - about the victims of Stalin's repressions. Such groups were created by government decision in all regions of Ukraine back in the early 90s.
It was planned to publish a volume of “Rehabilitated...” for each region; Now the sixth volume is being prepared for release in Kharkov. The shot Poles will hit him.
The police building on Zhen Myronosits Street (formerly Dzerzhinsky) is overwhelmingly monumental; the memorial plaque is in two languages - Ukrainian and Polish. “On this site there was the regional department of the NKVD and its internal prison. In the spring of 1940, by decision of the highest authority of the Soviet Union, the NKVD killed 3,809 Polish Army officers from the camp in Starobelsk, as well as 500 Polish citizens brought from other NKVD prisons. Eternal memory to them! Ukrainian people and families from Poland. 2008".
In August 1939, Molotov and Ribbentrop signed an agreement and secret protocols to it in Moscow, which made it possible for Germany to attack Poland from the West, and for the USSR to carry out a liberation campaign from the East. The Polish army received an order from its command not to resist the Soviet troops, and this order was generally followed. The Poles were disarmed and sorted into NKVD camps, within whose structure a special Directorate for Prisoners of War Affairs, headed by State Security Captain Soprunenko, had to be urgently created. Then part of the contingent held in these camps was transferred to participate in the construction of socialism in the eastern regions of the USSR, part was transferred to the German allies, and part disappeared without a trace. I repeat: without a trace.
The surrendered Polish officers were shot in three places - in Smolensk Katyn, in Medny near Kalinin (today's Tver) and in Kharkov.
“Katyn” has become a common symbol of this most carefully planned and carried out crime, which still amazes not only with its meanness, but also with its senselessness.
In the spring of 1940, Beria sent a note to Stalin: “In prisoner-of-war camps there are only 14,736 former officers, officials, landowners, policemen, gendarmes, jailers, siege guards and intelligence officers... Based on the fact that all of them are inveterate, incorrigible enemies of Soviet power, The NKVD of the USSR considers it necessary... to consider the cases of 14,700 people in prisoner-of-war camps... in a special manner, with the application of capital punishment to them - execution... The consideration of cases should be carried out without summoning those arrested and without bringing charges, a resolution to complete the investigation and an indictment... »
On the note there were four signatures across the page: Stalin, Voroshilov, Molotov, Mikoyan. Two more members of the Politburo approved the NKVD proposals through questioning - Kaganovich and Kalinin (their names are in the margin, in the secretary's handwriting). On March 5, 1940, the decision was formalized as Politburo Resolution No. P13/144.
That's all.
It is only necessary, perhaps, to add that the Soviet operation to “unload” the special camps strangely coincided with the German “Action A-B”, during which three and a half thousand Polish scientists were killed on the territory of the General Government in May 1940 , culture and art. A modern researcher writes: “Both aggressors acted in complete agreement with each other: both the Nazis and the Stalinists jointly destroyed the leading layer of the Polish intelligentsia, the flower of the Polish nation.”
They fled to Manchuria
In the Starobelsky special camp for officers (Voroshilovgrad region) those who surrendered without a shot under the personal guarantees of Marshal Tymoshenko in the Lviv region were kept - 8 generals, 55 colonels, 126 lieutenant colonels, 316 majors, 843 captains, 2527 lieutenants, 9 military chaplains.
By order of the NKVD of March 22, 1940, Polish officers from the Starobelsky camp were sent to the disposal of the NKVD Directorate for the Kharkov region. First, the “Polish contingent” was delivered from the camp to the Kharkov-Sortirovochnaya station, then they were loaded into cars of 15 people and transported to the regional NKVD Directorate on Dzerzhinsky Street. There, the Poles were led one by one into a cell where the commandant of the NKVD, senior lieutenant of state security Timofey Kupriy, and the prosecutor were sitting at the table, checking the personal details of the arrival. The interrogation ended the same way, Kupriy said: “You can go!” When the Pole turned around, he shot at him with a revolver...
They say that Timofey Fedorovich Kupriy was a true master of his craft; he never shot victims in the back of the head - only at a certain angle in the neck, at the level of the first vertebrae: the wound bled less and caused much less inconvenience to the executioner...
After the operation, Kupri was awarded a cash bonus by order of People's Commissar Beria. And in 1941, during the retreat of the Red Army from Kharkov, it was he who blew up the building of the internal prison. Allegedly, together with prisoners.
From the contingent of the Starobelsky camp, 78 people remained alive.
...At the end of 1941, the Soviet Union restored diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile, and Premier Sikorski arrived in Moscow to sign joint documents. At the meeting with Stalin, he was together with General Anders, who was forming a military unit in the USSR from Polish prisoners of war to jointly fight the Nazis.
The following conversation took place.
Sikorsky: I declare to you, Mr. President, that your order for amnesty is not being carried out. A large number of our people, the most valuable to the army, are still in camps and prisons. Stalin: This cannot be, since the amnesty applied to everyone, and all Poles were freed... Sikorsky: I have with me a list of about 4,000 officers... and this list is incomplete... These people are here. None of them returned! Stalin: This cannot be. They ran. Anders: Where could they have run? Stalin: Well, to Manchuria...The statute of limitations has expired
All these years, the Soviet Union accused Nazi Germany of their murder and even tried to push this accusation through at the Nuremberg trials. But everyone already understood well what had happened. The British and Americans had difficulty approving our version, but they avoided it (which we later interpreted as a desire to shield the fascist monsters).
One way or another, I want to specifically emphasize, if anyone does not understand: Soviet lawyers were fully aware that what was done in 1940 would be brought to the International Tribunal in full.
And when perestroika broke out in the USSR, the word “Katyn” came up again. My now deceased friend Gena Zhavoronkov published a series of articles in Moscow News, for which Poland awarded him an order. And in 1990 (exactly half a century later), the Soviet Union for the first time admitted the fact of its responsibility for the execution of several thousand Polish officers who were captured by the Soviets in the fall of 1939. In 1992, Yeltsin gave the Poles copies of some documents on this case. At the same time, in the early 90s, a criminal case was opened into the shooting of Polish officers. Under Putin, the prosecutor's office closed it; under Medvedev, after considering the cassation appeal in the Supreme Court, this decision came into force. The Supreme Court considered that the statute of limitations had expired, because in this case it was necessary to rely... on the Stalinist Criminal Code of 1929. And the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation refused to provide the Poles with the materials of its investigation - a state secret! Most of its 183 volumes are classified as “Secret” or “Top Secret” to this day.
And it turns out that we live in a country where secret police officers today do not hesitate to call themselves security officers, and cases of 80 years ago are “secret” solely in order not to disturb the memory of the executioners and preserve their good name.
The cover of a 285-page “case” declassified this year in Ukraine about how already in the 60s security officers tried to hide the crime of 1940 Everything will be treated with bleach
The bodies of the officers shot in Kharkov were transported by truck at night to the 6th quarter of the city forest park (Pyatikhatka district), where they were dumped into pre-dug holes. They first started talking about this in the early 90s.
In 2003, the book “Kharkiv Katyn” by Ukrainian Security Service officer Sergei Zavorotnov was published. Not all of my Kharkov interlocutors like the book, but it was the first. Later, historian Alexander Zinchenko wrote an emotional and vivid book “The Hour of the Parrot”, one of the main characters of which was the prisoner of the Starobelsky camp, Major Ludwik Domoń, who miraculously survived and went through the war with Anders’ army. And three months ago, the SBU declassified another portion of materials in addition to the already available documents from the case of the execution of Poles. This is a secret correspondence in which the highest ranks of the USSR KGB were involved, including Andropov and his deputies, as well as the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Shelest.
Scheme of localization of the graves of executed Polish officers in Pyatikhatki The fact is that in the summer of 1969, fifth-graders playing in the forest belt near Pyatikhatki came across a “mass grave” opened by unknown people, and the discussion of what to do with all this now reads like an exciting adventure novel. At first, things were moving towards the construction of a new KGB detention center on the burial site, and even calculations were made of how much it would cost. But in the end, Comrade Andropov (labeled “Only in person”) was offered a less expensive plan for approval.
“We consider it appropriate to explain to the population that during the period of the German occupation of Kharkov, German punitive authorities in the indicated place carried out burials without honors of soldiers and officers of the German and allied armies who were shot for desertion and other crimes. At the same time, in the same place, Germans buried people dying from various dangerous infectious diseases (typhoid, cholera, syphilitics, etc.), and therefore this burial should be recognized by health authorities as dangerous for visiting. This area will be treated with bleach, quarantined and subsequently covered with soil.”
That's what they did.
I wonder what is more here - a cool head, clean hands or a warm heart?
03/12/1991
USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev signs Law No. 124-N “On the reorganization of state security bodies”: the KGB of the USSR is liquidated as a single state body, and all territorial divisions are transferred to the exclusive jurisdiction of the republican authorities.
18/12/1991
Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a decree on the creation of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. Later, the Presidential Security Service and FAPSI were separated into separate departments. Many of their responsibilities overlap: competition is expected to be an incentive for quality work.
19/12/1991
from the Ministry of Security, renamed the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), the Border Service is separated into a separate structure. The Investigation Department is dissolved, and security officers are actually deprived of the opportunity to conduct operational activities. Prisons, including Lefortovo, are transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The lowest point in the fall of the influence of the security officers.
05/01/1994
From the Ministry of Security, renamed the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), the Border Service is separated into a separate structure. The Investigation Department is dissolved, and security officers are actually deprived of the opportunity to conduct operational activities. Prisons, including Lefortovo, are transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The lowest point in the fall of the influence of the security officers.
12/04/1995
The FSK is renamed the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Investigation Department is returned to its composition, which dramatically expands the operational capabilities of the security officers. Lefortovo prison returns to the jurisdiction of the FSB.
02/07/1996
The Presidential Security Service is included in the Federal Security Service (FSO). The failure of the first attempt in the modern history of Russia to create a service above services, which was undertaken by Boris Yeltsin’s bodyguard Alexander Korzhakov.
06/07/1998
A constitutional security department is being created within the FSB, the purpose of which its head Gennady Zotov called the fight against “political sedition” within the country. Later it will be merged with the counter-terrorism department.
03/04/1999
The functions of the FSB economic security department have been dramatically expanded: within its framework, a department for counterintelligence support of industrial enterprises (directorate “P”), transport (directorate “T”), the credit and financial system (directorate “K”), a department for combating smuggling and drug trafficking (directorate “N”).
11/03/2003
FAPSI and the Border Service are losing their independence. Border guards are included in the FSB, the powers and material and technical base of FAPSI are divided between the FSB and the FSO. In fact, the Soviet KGB has been recreated. Only foreign intelligence remained independent, as well as a number of highly specialized departments - for the protection of senior officials of the state, control over drug trafficking and the construction of special facilities.
06/03/2006
Vladimir Putin signs the law “On Countering Terrorism”: the FSB officially heads the fight against terrorism, its director coordinates the actions of all departments in this direction as the chairman of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee. Thus, the fight against terrorism is officially recognized as the main priority of the intelligence services.
On December 20, employees of the Russian special services (FSB, SVR and FSO) traditionally celebrate their professional holiday - the Day of Security Agencies Worker of the Russian Federation. Moreover, this year they are celebrating their centennial anniversary - on December 20, 1917, on Lenin’s initiative, the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR issued a Decree on the formation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK), which became the predecessor of the KGB and the FSB. In honor of the solemn date, the current head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, gave a long interview to the editor-in-chief of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, telling how he feels about the historical past of his department and how it lives today.
According to Bortnikov, he is not embarrassed by the fact that today’s FSB employees are often called security officers, like employees of the Cheka, known for their extremely harsh methods of “fighting counter-revolution.” The head of the FSB emphasized that the activities of the current security agencies have nothing to do with the “emergency” of the first years of Soviet power, but at the same time, in his opinion, “disowning the word “chekist” is the same as consigning the generations of our predecessors to oblivion.”
Answering the question of whether the security officers themselves in the 1930s did not understand that they were participating in mass repressions of innocent citizens, Bortnikov emphasized that although “among the security officers there were opportunists who adhered to the principle “the end justifies the means,” but at the same time there were and those who were motivated by selfless ideological motives." “The latter, even having fallen under repression themselves, for the most part did not lose faith in the party and Stalin personally,” Bortnikov noted, recalling that in 1933-1939, 22,618 security officers were subjected to repression.
Although many associate this period of history with the mass fabrication of charges, Bortnikov noted that “archival materials indicate the presence of an objective side in a significant part of criminal cases, including those that formed the basis of well-known open trials.” Here they cited as an example “the plans of Trotsky’s supporters to remove or even liquidate Stalin and his associates in the leadership of the CPSU (b).” As Bortnikov emphasized, this “is by no means a fiction, just like the connections of the conspirators with foreign intelligence services.” “In addition, a large number of those involved in those cases are representatives of the party nomenklatura and the leadership of law enforcement agencies, mired in corruption, committing arbitrariness and lynching,” recalled RG’s interlocutor.
Today, Russian security agencies, changing along with society, have completely different methods, Bortnikov assured. “The domestic security agencies, having gone through a difficult path, have learned important lessons from history. Now the FSB of Russia is free from political influence and does not serve any party or group interests. It builds its work on the basis of the Constitution of Russia and federal legislation. It acts in the interests of ensuring personal security , society and state,” the head of the FSB summarized. And the results of such work by the Russian special services are increasingly supported by citizens every year, he expressed confidence.
Over five years, about 140 foreign spies and their agents were convicted in Russia
The day before, in an interview with the same Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, said that over the past five years in Russia people have been convicted of intelligence activities 137 personnel employees and agents foreign intelligence services. “Foreign intelligence services continue to strive to penetrate all spheres of activity of our state. Naturally, this is met with decisive rebuff from counterintelligence officers. Thus, from 2012 to the present, 137 career employees of foreign intelligence services and their agents have been convicted,” said the head of the FSB.
According to him, in cooperation with other Russian authorities, the work of 120 foreign and international non-governmental organizations, “which are an instrument of the foreign intelligence community,” was stopped. 140 people were convicted as a result of measures to protect information constituting state secrets.
According to him, Russia has repeatedly become the target of hostile attacks by foreign states, and for some, its destruction remains an obsession.
“The enemy tried to defeat us either in open battle or by relying on traitors within the country, with their help to sow confusion, divide the people, and paralyze the state’s ability to respond timely and effectively to emerging threats,” he noted.
According to the head of the FSB, security agencies must promptly identify the enemy’s plans, preempt his actions and adequately respond to any attacks.
The history of one structure: the Cheka, the GPU, the NKVD, the MGB, the KGB, the FSB, as well as the SVR, the GRU and the FSO
December 20 marks the professional holiday of employees of the Russian special services responsible for the security of individuals, society and the state - the Day of Security Agencies Worker. It was established on the basis of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 20, 1995. Previously, for many decades, December 20 was celebrated unofficially as Chekist Day.
The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was created on December 20, 1917, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky, and abolished on February 6, 1922 with the transfer of powers to the GPU under the NKVD of the RSFSR.
The Cheka was the leading body of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” for the protection of state security of the RSFSR, “the leading body in the fight against counter-revolution throughout the entire country.” This structure was the main instrument for implementing the Red Terror - a set of punitive measures carried out by the Bolsheviks during the Civil War in Russia against various social groups declared class enemies, as well as against individuals accused of counter-revolutionary activities. The word "chekist" comes from the abbreviation "Chka".
According to various estimates, in 1917-1922, tens of thousands of people were shot according to verdicts of revolutionary tribunals and extrajudicial sessions of the Cheka (according to other sources, up to 140 thousand).
In February 1922, at the proposal of Vladimir Lenin, the Cheka was abolished with the transfer of powers to the GPU under the NKVD of the RSFSR. In 1923, the GPU was transformed into the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR at the union level. In 1934, the OGPU became part of the NKVD of the USSR as the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB).
In February 1941, the NKVD of the USSR was divided into two independent bodies: the NKVD of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB) of the USSR. In July 1941, the NKGB and the NKVD of the USSR were again united into a single People's Commissariat - the NKVD of the USSR. In April 1943, the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR was re-established. On March 15, 1946, the NKGB was transformed into the Ministry of State Security.
Later, the name and structural location of the department changed several more times, until in 1954 the USSR State Security Committee (KGB) was created, which worked until 1991. All this time, from 1919 to 1991, the main building of the state security bodies of the RSFSR and the USSR was the famous house on Lubyanka, built at the end of the 19th century by the Rossiya insurance company, whose property was nationalized in 1918.
The building on Lubyanka housed an internal state security prison since 1920, which was expanded in the 1930s. In connection with this, in those years they joked in Moscow that this was the tallest building in the country - Siberia and Kolyma could be seen from its basements.
On December 3, 1991, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the law “On the reorganization of state security bodies”, on the basis of which the KGB of the USSR was abolished, and for the transition period, the Inter-Republican Security Service and the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation) were created on its basis.
In January 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the formation of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation on the basis of the abolished Inter-Republican Security Service and the Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR, which was transformed in November 1991 from the State Security Committee of the RSFSR, created in May of the same year.
On December 21, 1993, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree on the abolition of the Ministry of Security and the creation of the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK), which, on the basis of the Russian Law of April 3, 1995 “On the Bodies of the Federal Security Service in the Russian Federation,” was transformed into the FSB.
On May 27, 1996, the Russian Federation Law “On State Security” was adopted, in accordance with which the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation was created, which was merged in the same year with the Security Service of the President of the Russian Federation.
In 2003, the FSB of the Russian Federation transferred the functions of the abolished Federal Border Service of the Russian Federation (FBS RF) and (partially) the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information (FAPSI) under the President of the Russian Federation. The FSB reports directly to the President of the Russian Federation.
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation includes departments - counterintelligence, counter-terrorism, economic security, analysis, forecast and strategic planning, organizational and personnel work; departments - military counterintelligence, constitutional security, investigative, own security, etc. Creates territorial security bodies and security bodies in the troops (special departments), together with which it forms a single centralized system of FSB bodies.
Special services also include state security bodies and their modern structure - the Federal Security Service (FSO) of the Russian Federation.
The first written information about the existence of units of the grand ducal and royal guards dates back to the reign of Ivan IV (the Terrible). In the 17th century, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (Romanov), boyar Artamon Matveev substantiated the need to allocate separate military, police and security (palace) functions of Streltsy regiments in the Streletsky Prikaz. At the same time, “concerns” for the protection of the royal person and family, the royal palace and the diplomatic corps were named in official documents as separate tasks separated from other Streltsy affairs. Some tasks and functions of state security, on the initiative of Matveev, were reflected in the first Russian constitutional code - the “Conciliar Code” (1649).
Then, other departments known from history were in charge of ensuring the security of the Russian state, for example, the “Preobrazhensky Order” and the Secret Office of Peter I, the Secret Expedition under the Senate, the Third Department of the Own Office of Nicholas I and Alexander II.
After the terrorist attack on March 13 (March 1, old style) 1881, when Emperor Alexander II died, the state security system in Russia was radically reformed. As a result of the transformations in September 1881, for the first time in the history of Russia, a special department was created to protect the top officials of the state. Over the next decades, the security service was improved.
Congratulations to FSB employees on the 90th anniversary of education!
I dedicate the picture below to the thousands of security officers who watch Jacob every day, tracking the comments of all users of our site;)))!
The history of creation is under the cut.
FSB brief history of creation..
(7) December 20, 1917 By resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) was formed to combat counter-revolution and sabotage in Soviet Russia. F.E. Dzerzhinsky was appointed its first chairman. He held this post until February 6, 1922. From July to August 1918 The duties of the Chairman of the Cheka were temporarily performed by Y.Kh. Peters
GPU
February 6, 1922 The All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution on the abolition of the Cheka and the formation of the State Political Administration (GPU) under the NKVD of the RSFSR.
The 5-year badge of the Cheka-GPU with the inscription: “VChK-GPU. 1917-1922” was established in 1923. The badge was awarded for the merciless fight against counter-revolution. The holder of the badge was awarded the title of Honorary Worker of the Cheka-GPU. He had the right to carry weapons and enter all GPU buildings. The first to be awarded were employees of the Cheka and the State Political Administration who participated in the defeat of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, the National Center, the Tactical Center, and in carrying out operations Trust and Syndicate, which ended with the arrests of B. Savinkov and S. Reilly.
OGPU
November 2, 1923 The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created the United State Political Administration (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. F.E. Dzerzhinsky remained the chairman of the GPU and OGPU until the end of his life (July 20, 1926), who was replaced by V.R. Menzhinsky, who headed the OGPU until 1934.
On December 17, 1927, by order of the OGPU, a sign with the profile of F.E. was established for the 10th anniversary of the security agencies. Dzerzhinsky against the background of a red banner. The place where the “anniversary badge” was worn was determined to be the left breast pocket.
On November 23, 1932, the OGPU issued an order that stated: “In commemoration of the 15th anniversary, establish the badge “VChK-OGPU.” 1917-1932", which is given the significance of the highest award of the OGPU collegium." The award of the badge was carried out until the end of 1940 to employees of the OGPU, and since 1934 - to the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR, who distinguished themselves "in the fight against counter-revolution" and suppressing the hostile machinations of foreign intelligence services as in Russia and in Republican Spain.
NKVD
July 10, 1934 In accordance with the resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, state security bodies became part of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the USSR. After the death of Menzhinsky, the work of the OGPU, and later the NKVD from 1934 to 1936. directed by G.G. Yagoda. From 1936 to 1938 The NKVD was headed by N.I. Ezhov. From November 1938 to 1945 The head of the NKVD was L.P. Beria.
The badge "Honored Worker of the NKVD", put into effect by decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on December 31, 1940, was awarded to employees "for merits in leadership or direct performance of work to protect state security and for the successful completion of special government assignments." This badge was also awarded to employees who distinguished themselves on the fronts of the Second World War, who managed to neutralize the efforts of the Abwehr and the Gestapo. The awards were made until 1946, when the NKVD was transformed into the Ministry of State Security.
NKGB
USSR
February 3, 1941 The NKVD of the USSR was divided into two independent bodies: the NKVD of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB) of the USSR. People's Commissar of Internal Affairs - L.P. Beria. People's Commissar of State Security - V.N. Merkulov. In July 1941 The NKGB of the USSR and the NKVD of the USSR were again united into a single People's Commissariat - the NKVD of the USSR. In April 1943 The People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR was re-formed, headed by V.N. Merkulov.
MGB
March 15, 1946 The NKGB was transformed into the Ministry of State Security. Minister - V.S.Abakumov. In 1951 - 1953 The post of Minister of State Security was held by S.D. Ignatiev. In March 1953 a decision was made to merge the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, headed by S.N. Kruglov.
The badge "Honored Chekist of the MGB" repeated in appearance the badge "Honored Worker of the NKVD". Established in 1946.
Ministry of Internal Affairs March 7, 1953 a decision was made to merge the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, headed by S.N. Kruglov.
KGB
USSR
March 13, 1954 The State Security Committee was created under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
From 1954 to 1958 The leadership of the KGB was carried out by I.A. Serov,
from 1958 to 1961 - A.N. Shelepin,
from 1961 to 1967 - V.E. Semichastny,
from 1967 to 1982 - Yu.V.Andropov,
from May to December 1982 - V.V. Fedorchuk,
from 1982 to 1988 - V.M. Chebrikov,
from 1988 to August 1991 - V.A. Kryuchkov,
from August to November 1991 - V.V. Bakatin.
December 3, 1991 USSR President M.S. Gorbachev signed the Law "On the reorganization of state security bodies." On the basis of the Law, the KGB of the USSR was abolished and, for the transition period, the Inter-Republican Security Service and the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR (currently the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation) were created on its basis.
KGB - STEPS OF FORMATION
SME
November 28, 1991 USSR President M.S. Gorbachev signed the Decree “On approval of the Temporary Regulations on the Inter-Republican Security Service.”
Head - V.V. Bakatin (from November 1991 to December 1991).
KGB
RSFSR
May 6, 1991 Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin and Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V.A. Kryuchkov signed a protocol on the formation in accordance with the decision of the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia of the State Security Committee of the RSFSR, which has the status of a union-republican state committee. V.V. Ivanenko was appointed its head.
In 1957, three years after the formation of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the state security agencies, the badge “Honorary State Security Officer” was established. The award was made “for specific results achieved in operational activities” in accordance with the decision of the Committee board. This award was given to 7,375 people.
AFB
November 26, 1991 Russian President B.N. Yeltsin signed a Decree on the transformation of the KGB of the RSFSR into the Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR.
Headed the AFB - V.V. Ivanenko from November 1991 to December 1991.
MB
January 24, 1992 Russian President B.N. Yeltsin signed a Decree on the formation of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation on the basis of the abolished Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR and the Inter-Republican Security Service.
Minister - V.P.Barannikov since January 1992 to July 1993,
N.M.Golushko since July 1993 to December 1993
FSK
December 21, 1993 Russian President B.N. Yeltsin signed a Decree on the abolition of the Ministry of Security and on the creation of the Federal Counterintelligence Service.
Director - N.M. Golushko since December 1993. to March 1994,
S.V. Stepashin since March 1994 to June 1995
By order of the FSB of March 22, 1994, the badge “Honorary Counterintelligence Officer” was established. They were awarded for special merits in operational activities and demonstrated initiative and perseverance. The awardees were provided with benefits in the field of medical, sanatorium and housing support, they were assigned a monthly bonus to their official salary and were given the right to wear a military uniform upon dismissal, regardless of length of service.
FSB
April 3, 1995 Russian President B.N. Yeltsin signed the Law “On Bodies of the Federal Security Service in the Russian Federation”, on the basis of which the FSB is the legal successor of the FSK.
Director - M.I. Barsukov since July 1995. to June 1996,
N.D. Kovalev since July 1996 to July 1998,
V.V. Putin since July 1998 to August 1999,
N.P. Patrushev since August 1999
The badge of three degrees "For service in counterintelligence" was established by order of the FSB No. 256 of July 12, 1994. This badge is awarded to military personnel and civilian personnel of the FSB of the Russian Federation “for achieving positive results in their official activities and having worked in security agencies for at least 15 years.” As of December 2000, the badge “For Service in Counterintelligence” was awarded to 16 working employees of the FSB Directorate for the Yaroslavl Region.
FSB MEDAL "FOR EXCELLENCE IN MILITARY SERVICE" 1st class
) Russia celebrates its 20th anniversary. On April 3, 1995, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the law “On the Bodies of the Federal Security Service in the Russian Federation.” In accordance with the document, the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) was transformed into the Federal Security Service.
In 2014, terrorist crimes were committed 2.6 times less than in 2013. Last year, the Service stopped the activities of 52 career employees and 290 agents of foreign intelligence services; during the same period, it was possible to prevent damage to the state from corruption in the amount of about 142 billion rubles
Cheka(1917–1922) The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) was created on December 7, 1917 as an organ of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” The main task of the commission was to fight counter-revolution and sabotage. The agency also performed the functions of intelligence, counterintelligence and political investigation. Since 1921, the tasks of the Cheka included the elimination of homelessness and neglect among children.
Chairman Council of People's Commissars USSR Vladimir Lenin called the Cheka “a devastating weapon against countless conspiracies, countless attempts on Soviet power by people who were infinitely stronger than us.”
The people called the commission “the emergency”, and its employees - “ security officers" The first Soviet state security agency was headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky. The building of the former mayor of Petrograd, located at Gorokhovaya, 2, was allocated for the new structure.
In February 1918, Cheka employees received the right to shoot criminals on the spot without trial or investigation in accordance with the decree “The Fatherland is in Danger!”
Capital punishment was allowed to be applied against “enemy agents, speculators, thugs, hooligans, counter-revolutionary agitators, German spies,” and later “all persons involved in White Guard organizations, conspiracies and rebellions.”
The end of the civil war and the decline of the wave of peasant uprisings made the continued existence of the expanded repressive apparatus, whose activities had practically no legal restrictions, meaningless. Therefore, by 1921, the party was faced with the question of reforming the organization.
OGPU (1923–1934) On February 6, 1922, the Cheka was finally abolished, and its powers were transferred to the State Political Administration, which later received the name United (OGPU). As Lenin emphasized: “... the abolition of the Cheka and the creation of the GPU does not simply mean changing the name of the bodies, but consists of changing the nature of the entire activity of the body during the period of peaceful construction of the state in a new situation...”.
The chairman of the department until July 20, 1926 was Felix Dzerzhinsky; after his death, this post was taken by the former People's Commissar of Finance Vyacheslav Menzhinsky.
The main task of the new body was the same fight against counter-revolution in all its manifestations. Subordinate to the OGPU were special units of troops necessary to suppress public unrest and combat banditry.
In addition, the department was entrusted with the following functions:
◦protection of railway and waterways; ◦fighting smuggling and crossing borders by Soviet citizens); ◦execution of special assignments of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars.
May 9, 1924 powers OGPU were significantly expanded. The police and criminal investigation authorities began to report to the department. Thus began the process of merging state security agencies with internal affairs agencies.
