state secret- the range of information established by law, the disclosure of which may lead to a decrease in the country's defense capability or cause significant harm to national security, economic or political interests. Protection against unauthorized distribution is subject to, related to the following areas:

• Armed Forces of the State.
• Information about the foreign policy activity of the state.
• Information about scientific research and experimental design developments, data on economic indicators in individual areas.
• Information related to the activities of national security agencies, foreign intelligence and operational-search activities carried out by law enforcement agencies.

To preserve state secrets, the country's legislation introduces a special administrative and legal order in this area - a secrecy regime. To ensure it, a set of measures is being developed to protect such information from disclosure and counteract espionage and intelligence of foreign states. For this purpose, criminal liability is introduced for the transfer of secret information to third parties or its illegal distribution.

The importance of information related to state secrets is different, some of them may be of a strategic, operational or local nature. Accordingly, the concept of the degree of secrecy for each of the listed levels is introduced. Each country establishes its own designation system in the specified area, which is fixed by law or other regulatory legal acts.

Any information, including classified information, exists on media different types. It can be material objects: paper and virtual ones - computer files on hard and laser disks, memory cards, and the like. A person who possesses secret information is also recognized as a carrier of information. Access to state secrets is made on the basis of a permit, which is issued by the competent authorities after inspections.

Legislative support and composition of secret information in the Russian Federation

AT Russian Federation legal regulation in this area is carried out at the highest level. In 1997, on October 6, the State Duma adopted the Federal Law, which received the name "On State Secrets". Subsequently, certain provisions of this normative act were edited and amended. A document of such a high level, regulating the issues of keeping state secrets in our country, was adopted for the first time.

This law specifies the composition of classified information in the relevant sections. In particular, in the military sphere, the following are considered state secrets:

• Strategic, operational and mobilization plans, as well as documents on the management, construction and deployment of the army and navy.
• Promising developments in the field of R&D, designing new and upgrading existing models of military equipment and weapons.
• Technology of production, storage and disposal of combat units of nuclear weapons and their components and methods of their application.
• Tactical and technical data of weapons and equipment.
• Deployment of military units, defense facilities, their purpose and condition.

In the field of economics and promising scientific and technical research information about the plans for preparing the country or individual regions for war and mobilization resources are secret. In addition, data about objects are not subject to disclosure. civil defense, size and composition of the defense order. The state secret is information about stocks of precious metals and stones, as well as strategic materials. Their list is determined by the Government Decree.

In the field of foreign policy and foreign economic activity, classified information is classified as information, the uncontrolled dissemination of which may harm the security or interests of the country. Information about financial policy in relation to foreign states is also not subject to disclosure.

In the field of foreign intelligence and ensuring national security, state secrets are data on the composition and tasks of the relevant bodies and their funding. Information about the operational-search activities that they carry out is secret. Security data is also a secret information systems and government communications.

The concept of the degree of secrecy and stamps of documents

The degree of secrecy of information is established based on the importance of information for the security of the country. To determine it, an assessment is made of the possible damage that can be caused if they are disclosed. The following degrees of secrecy are established in the Russian Federation:

• of particular importance;
• Top secret;
• Secret.

These designations are used as secrecy marks on official documents. To access this information, a person must have an appropriate level of clearance, which is issued after verification by the national security authorities. The use of the listed labels for classifying information that is not directly classified by law as a state secret is strictly prohibited.

Foreign countries have their own systems to keep secrets safe. For example, in the United States of America there is no special law on state secrets. The activities of government agencies in this area are regulated by Presidential Decree No. 13526. The degrees and classifications of secrecy in US government agencies are similar to those established in our country:

• Top Secret - top secret, of special importance.
• Secret - top secret.
• Confidential - secret.

The absence of a unified law, however, does not mean the absence of criminal liability for the disclosure of information related to state secrets. For this, a number of laws “On espionage” and others have been adopted.

The system of protection of state secrets in the UK has its own characteristics. There are five levels of secrecy here, in addition to the three above, such vultures as Restricted (limited access) and Protect (protected information) have been introduced. In addition to the degree of secrecy, there are restrictions associated with the citizenship of a person:

• "UK eyes only" - only for citizens of the UK.
• "Canukus eyes only" - only for British citizens, as well as citizens of Canada and the United States.
• "Auscannzukus" - for citizens of states parties to the EW treaty.

The People's Republic of China maintains secrecy special organization which has the status of a national administration. The country has three levels of importance of information constituting a state secret:

• Top secret.
• High secrecy.
• Secret.

In addition to state information protection systems, there are also those created within the framework of international organizations and military alliances: NATO, European Commission and others. They have certain features associated with the need to organize access to secret information of the citizens of the participants in these alliances.

Protection of information constituting a state secret

Each country carefully guards its secrets from the attention of potential adversaries and competitors. For these purposes, special bodies are created in the state with the competence to develop the procedure and rules for handling information of limited access, organizing checks and admitting persons to them. In the Russian Federation, the coordination of the activities of all services working in this area is carried out by the appropriate interdepartmental commission.

This body operates on the basis of the Regulations approved by the President of the country. The regime of secrecy in the authorities is ensured by special departments that store documentation, protect information systems and communications. Bodies with similar functions are also available at enterprises and institutions that carry out state defense orders and the like.

Criminal liability is established for violations of the legislation in the field of protection of state secrets. Identification of leakage channels and persons involved in such activities is carried out Federal Service security. In the Armed Forces, the tasks of protecting state secrets are solved by special departments of military counterintelligence, which are available in all military units and garrisons.

In the United States, several organizations deal with such issues: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Each of these departments solves its own range of tasks, the Army, Navy, Corps also have their own structures. marines, enterprises of the Ministry of Energy and other institutions.

Ensuring the safety of state secrets and IT-technologies

With the development of communications and the emergence of information networks, the issues of protecting secrecy are of particular importance. Created in our country state system, whose task is to ensure the safety of information of limited access. Within the framework of this system, appropriate structures are formed, focused on solving the following tasks:

• Opposition to technical intelligence of foreign states.
• Formation and implementation of a unified technical policy in the field of protection of state secrets.
• Coordination of efforts and activities of all structures in this area.

The State Information Security System has been given the right to issue regulations, as well as control functions to verify the completeness of the implementation of measures. The structure of this organization includes FAPSI, which provides government communications, as well as ensuring the security of information storage and processing systems.

The concept of state secrets arose simultaneously with the emergence of the first stable public formations. Protecting secrets from disclosure is one of the most important functions of the authorities in every country. Information about the country's defense capability, economic indicators, mobilization potential and foreign policy are the most important areas on which the existence of the state itself often depends.

Be aware of everyone important events United Traders - subscribe to our

M. V. Zelenov*

Military and state secrets in the RSFSR and the USSR and their legal support (1917-1991)

The article discusses the features of the legal provision of limited access to information containing military and state secrets during the existence of the Soviet state.

In the article examines the features of the legal security restricted access to information that contains military and state secrets for the Soviet state.

Keywords history of state and law, censorship, secrecy, limited access to information, information law.

Key words: history of state and law, censorship, secrecy, limited access to information, information law.

Secrecy - a special legal regime governing access to certain information - appears on certain stage development of the state in order to ensure the security of subjects of law (individuals, corporations (including churches or parties), the state, society, interstate institutions). According to the object of protection, the secret is classified into commercial, official, military, economic, etc. There is very little special literature on the study of secrets. AT recent decades With the weakening of censorship and the opening of archives, it became possible to create essays and reviews of the formation of military censorship and state secrets in the USSR1. There were also interviews and memoirs of censors,

* Doctor historical sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law of the Leningrad state university named after A.S. Pushkin.

1 Goryaeva T. M. Soviet political censorship (history, activity, structure) // Eliminate any mention ...: Essays on the history of Soviet censorship. Mn.; M., 1995; Elyutina E. V. Legal regulation of the preservation of secrets // State and Law. 2002. No. 8. S. 16-23; Blum A. V. Soviet censorship in the era of total terror. 1929-1953. SPb., 2003. S. 132-148; Prudnikov A.V. Information not subject to disclosure in the press of the Soviet state in the 1920s // Vestn. Krasnoyarsk. state university Ser. Humanitarian sciences. 2006. No. 6. S. 58-60; Zdanovich A. A. State security agencies and the Red Army: The activities of the VChK-OGPU bodies to ensure the security of the Red Army (1921-1934). M., 2008; Kurenkov GA Organization of information security in the structures of the RCP (b) - VKP (b). 1918-1941: author's abstract. dis. ... cand. ist. Sciences. M., 2010; History of the system and information protection agencies // Agentura: special services under control //

URL: http://www.agentura.ru/equipment/psih/info/story/.

who talk about working with the "List of information constituting a state secret"2.

The specificity of the presence of secrets in the USSR was that there were no trade secrets in the country, for example, since there was no commerce. The presence of state secrets in the USSR does not distinguish this state from a number of others. But this concept itself, as well as the legal support of secrecy, was not created immediately. The list of secrets was developed by government agencies and drawn up by special "Lists ..." associated with censorship and military legislation. At first, the concept of state and military secrets was the same and was associated primarily with espionage. The law of 20 April 1892 defined espionage as a form of high treason. And from then until 1912, the concept of espionage, protection of secret information and high treason was constantly enriched3, although there was no list of secret (secret) information.

AT tsarist Russia the first such "List." was developed in 1912 in connection with the introduction of the law "On changing existing laws on high treason through espionage” (PSZ, Sobr. 3rd, No. 37724)4 “List of information on military and naval units, the disclosure of which in the press is prohibited on the basis of Article 1 of Section II of the Law of July 5, 1912” with amendments was approved by the highest on November 29 and published on December 11, 1912 (CS No. 247, Article 2231) and since then has been almost continuously extended or replaced by new ones. The Provisional Government issued a "List of information not subject to dissemination by postal and telegraph international relations" and a "List of information subject to preliminary review by military censorship" along with new provisions on military censorship and military postal and telegraph control dated July 26, 1917 (SU No. 199 of August 19, 1917, items 1229 and 1230). These documents were based on the corresponding analogues of 1915 and contained not only military, but also socio-economic facts and events forbidden to be mentioned in the press.

Immediately after October 1917 Soviet authority faced with the objective need to also keep military secrets. February 21

3 See: Stolyarov N. V. “History and formation of the organization for the protection of state secrets in Russia”. State treason and espionage // Security for everyone. Electronic resource// URL: http://www.sec4all.net/gostama-mss2.html (Accessed January 05, 2012).

In 1918, at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, the issue of measures to combat the publication in the press of information that was not subject to disclosure5 was considered. The concept of "military secret" was used in normative documents, however, the scope of this concept was not defined by the legislator. Essentially “a) disclosure of military secrets, plans and information; b) the transfer of military secrets, plans and information" were defined in the decision of the Cassation Department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee "On the jurisdiction of the revolutionary tribunals" on October 6, 1918 as a spy-nazh6. The observance of military secrets was entrusted to the bodies of military censorship (RVSR, and then the Cheka)7. The RVSR performed censorship functions from November 1918 to August 1921, since at that time it included the Department (since 1921 - Directorate) of military censorship. As P. Batulin established, during the stay of military censorship in the military department, similar ones to the "List" were successively replaced. period of the Provisional Government "List of information subject to preliminary review by Military censorship" dated June 21, 1918 from 27 points (RGVA. F. 25883. Op. 1. D. 87. L. 62-63), "List of acts and information, harmful to the Russian Federation Soviet Republic, as well as those not subject to distribution by postal and telegraph international and other communications "of 36 points," The list of information not subject to disclosure in time-based printing "of December 23, 1918 of 32 points (RGVA. F. 4. Op. 3. D. 49. L. 264-268 and rev.), as well as the "List of information constituting a military secret and not subject to distribution" of 23 points dated July 21, 1919 (in the order of the RVSR No. 1018/186 - RGVA. F. 4 3. D. 33. L. 103-104). These lists were based on pre-revolutionary lists and were instructive documents for military censorship in accordance with the new conditions. civil war.

On June 10, 1921, the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to transfer military censorship to the Cheka, and on August 9, 1921, by order of the RVSR No. 1708/293, the Military Censorship Directorate of the Headquarters of the Red Army was transferred to the Cheka, the department became a sub-department of military censorship of the Information Department VChK. During the transfer of military censorship to the Cheka, a “List of information constituting a secret and not subject to distribution” was developed (approved by the SNK on October 13, 1921), which, as before, was a secret departmental instruction. P.V. Batulin for the first time describes in detail

7 Regulations on military censorship // Collected. legalizations of the RSFSR. 1918. No. 97. Art. 987.

its content. The list consisted of three chapters: chapter 1 containing information of a military nature - from parts A (17 items "In peacetime" - traditional articles of the former lists of military, however, time) and B (9 items "C war time"- also the traditional articles of the military list: on the procedure for mobilization, carrying capacity railways and the locomotive and wagon fleet, the number of places in medical institutions and epidemics, telegraph and telephone lines, the expected actions of the army and navy and the actions of the moment in addition to reports, losses and destruction). Chapter

2 (20 points) included information on the circulation and production of money, monetary reform, currencies, securities, import and export plan, export fund, negotiations by the People's Commissariat for Foreign Trade, food routes, provision of fuel and rolling stock of individual railways, the state of the police, crime and unrest, the regime in places of detention, the dissolution of kulak and bourgeois councils, digital data on the disabled and wounded, information about foreign policy in addition to the official reports of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. AT short chapter 3 indicated the procedure for publishing information prohibited by chapter 2: "with the permission of the relevant people's commissariats or their authorized representatives and local representatives."

After the Civil War, the concept of secrecy was expanded. Article 66 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (introduced by the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on June 1, 1922) provided for responsibility for "participation in espionage., Expressed in the transfer, communication or abduction, or collection of information that has the nature of state secrets, especially military ones ...". At the same time, in June 1922, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR created a body of centralized censorship - Glavlit, entrusting it with the task of "compiling lists of printed works prohibited for sale and distribution, if they ... b) disclose the military secrets of the Republic" (Art. 3 .). In October-November 1922, a number of commissions worked under the Central Committee of the RCP (b), which prepared a draft of a new “List of information constituting a secret and not subject to dissemination”, approved by the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee on December 14, 1922.8 In structure and content, it is similar to the “List » 1921. The wording of part A was detailed in it, the number of paragraphs of part B of the List was increased to 15. The economic chapter has been significantly revised in connection with the ongoing operations and NEP reforms. In number-

8 Kurenkov G. A. 1922. What was a state and military secret in the RSFSR // Otech. archives. 1993. No. 6. S. 80-86.

Information not to be disseminated includes information about searches, arrests and other repressive measures, information about the internal life of missions abroad, and the working conditions of some of their employees.

The creation of the USSR necessitated the unification and codification of legislation. In May 1923, the Secretariat of the Central Committee returned to the development of the List, and it was approved at a meeting of the Secretariat on June 15, 1923, after consideration by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, it was put into effect on July 1, 1923: it was similar in structure to the two previous ones, several military articles were added to it (on the naval budget, on spare parts and the preparation of the reserve), but information of a predominantly economic nature concerning the State Planning Commission was removed. Approved Lists. did not suit the military department and the state security agencies: at first, the OGPU made an attempt to independently determine what should be classified as military secrets (OGPU Order No. The issue of introducing a new "List of information not subject to disclosure" was considered.

So, by 1924, the concept of “military secret” was expanded to the concept of “state secret” (information of an economic and other nature), protection was transferred from the military department to civilian ones (from the RVSR to the OGPU, and then to Glavlit), obviously active participation The Central Committee of the RCP (b) in the process of creating the "List." as a coordinator of the positions of various state structures.

On the basis of the “Basic Principles of the Criminal Legislation” adopted in August 1924 (Article 3.) and the “Regulations on Military Crimes” (Article 16) 9 of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on August 14, 1925, it adopted and sent for consideration to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR a resolution “On espionage, as well as on the collection and transmission of economic information that is not subject to disclosure. The Central Executive Committee approved this resolution on September 1, 1925. 10 It was the first to define state secrets: these are “information listed in a special list approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and published to the public.” In addition, the presence of not military, but economic information was declared, "not subject to disclosure by direct prohibition of the law or by order of the heads of departments, institutions and enterprises." Once-

9 See: Collection of Laws of the USSR. 1924. No. 24. Art. 205, 207.

10 On espionage, as well as on the collection and transfer of economic information that is not subject to disclosure // SZ. 1924. No. 24. Art. 205.

the work of the list was entrusted by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Pr. 115. p. 20) on 08/18/1925 to the NKVOYEN, the Supreme Council of National Economy, the NKVT, the OGPU, the NKID and the Prosecutor of the USSR Armed Forces. The first draft was considered at a meeting of the Administrative and Financial Commission of the Council of People's Commissars on 01/07/1925, which entrusted further work on the draft “List. » Commission N.P. Gorbunov. The main comments on the draft were put forward by the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, which defended the need for accuracy and clarity of wording to combat economic espionage and so that officials and their opinions could not influence the essence of the matter, so that the subjectivity of the wording was eliminated (for example, "other kinds of information"). "Scroll." included 12 items divided into three groups. 1) information of a military nature included the deployment of units, the state of the armed forces, mobilization and operational plans; information about military orders and the state of the military industry, inventions of technical means of defense, secret publications and documents related to the defense of the country. 2) information of an economic nature united the state of foreign exchange funds, having importance discoveries, import and export details. 3) other kinds of information (foreign policy and foreign trade; about the fight against espionage and counter-revolution and about ciphers). "Scroll." was adopted at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Pr. 157. p. 15) on April 27, 192611 and published after amendments made to it by the SO OGPU on May 13, 192612. The history of the development and implementation of state policy in this area has already been covered by researchers13.

In June 1926 in Glavlit to ensure work on the "List." a military-economic department was created, headed by the assistant chief of the 3rd department of the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army Headquarters for the military technical part A.A. Langov. In the bowels of this department, a "List of issues constituting a secret and not subject to disclosure was developed in order to protect the political and economic interests of the USSR." The proposed version was very different from the published one: it was divided into six completely different sections - Trade policy, financial policy, Industry and state building, External poly-

11 GARF. F. 5446 (SNK USSR), op.7a. D.456 (On approval of the list of information ...).

12 On the approval of the list of information that, by its content, is a specially protected state secret // Izvestia. 1926, May 13; SZ USSR. 1926. No. 32. Art. 213.

13 See, for example: Blum A.V. Soviet censorship in the era of total terror. 19291953. St. Petersburg, 2003, Ch. 8 Protection of state and military secrets. pp. 132-148.

tika, Health Care And Veterinary Medicine, Domestic politics- , each of which contained a certain number of articles, which were accompanied by an indication in which case and under what conditions it is possible to publish certain information14. In 1930, additional acts were issued: "Dislocation of the Red Army for the press for 1930-1931." and “Brief instructions for the protection of state. secrets in print. In 1931, the List of Letters was published. “A” of information constituting a military secret and not subject to disclosure in order to protect the interests of the defense of the USSR (in peacetime).

In September 1933, the institution of the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the protection of military secrets in the press was established, the position of which was held by the head of Glavlit. Authorized Council of People's Commissars - an institution of all-Union centralized censorship for the protection of military and state secrets, uniting (unlike Glavlit) all the chiefs of the Glavlits of the Union republics as heads of the Offices of the Commissioners of the Council of People's Commissars of the Union republics. Under the Plenipotentiary Council of People's Commissars, the Directorate of the Council of People's Commissars (since 1953 - CM) of the USSR for the protection of military and state secrets in the press (1933-1953), the Directorate for the protection of military and state secrets in the press of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (March - October 1953) G.). The Directorate had a department of military censorship (since 1933), a department of foreign literature (since 1936), a department for censorship control over information of foreign correspondents (since 1946), etc.

The initiator of the creation of the Department for the Protection of Military Secrets under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was the Deputy NKVoenmor M.N. Tukhachevsky. According to his note, on September 15, 1933, the Politburo Decree “On Military Censorship” (ПБ145/15) was adopted, according to which the head of the Glavlita of the RSFSR B.M. Volin was appointed Plenipotentiary of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the protection of military secrets in the press, the military group of Glavlit stood out as an independent department of military censorship (OVC) under the Commissioner, all personnel of the OVTs were considered to be active military service.

By the Decree “On strengthening the protection of state secrets” of September 23, 1933, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR duplicated the position of the Politburo on the establishment of the institution of the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the protection of military secrets. The OVC was created by the same resolution. In the Union republics, under the chiefs of the Glavlits, the OVTs were created, subordinate to the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. "Regulations on the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the SSR for the protection of state secrets and on departments of military censorship" was approved by the Council of People's Commissars

14 Yarmolich F.K. Censorship in the North-West of the USSR. 1922-1964: dis. ... cand. ist. Sciences. SPb., 2010. App. one.

USSR November 4, 1933. It was entrusted with: “a) leadership of the preliminary censorship of the press of the USSR; b) organization of subsequent control over the safety of military secrets in the entire press of the USSR, including the Red Army, radio broadcasts, exhibitions, etc., with the right to confiscate or prohibit everything found to contain the disclosure of military secrets; c) leadership of departments of military censorship in the field; d) regular (at least once every six months) review with representatives of the people's commissariats and central organizations of the USSR of the list of issues constituting military secrets; e) preparations for the transfer of peacetime military censorship to wartime provisions”15. Instructions for supplementing the List should be given by NKVoenmor. Preliminary censorship in relation to the press of the Red Army was carried out according to the Regulations: military censors (chiefs of staff military units), according to the military district and army newspapers - military district (army) censors appointed by the NKVM, according to the Moscow Central Red Army Press - a senior military censor and five censors. The military censors were hierarchically subordinate to the OVTs. The personnel of the OVTs were appointed by orders of the Main Directorate of the Red Army and the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and were considered to be in active military service. Not textually, but semantically, the organization of censorship of the army press is entirely entrusted to the NK Defense (Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army). Thus, the Central Military Censorship under the NPO was constituted.

The states of the OVTs under the Plenipotentiary and under the Glavlitas of the Union Republics, Autonomous Republics and Kraiollites were established by the NC RCT of the USSR on November 4, 1933 (a total of 94 staff units). However, in a number of krais and oblasts (Saratov, Kalinin, all oblasts of the Far East Territory), the OTC has not been created. In 1934, on the staff of the OVTs under the Plenipotentiary Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, there was one deputy16, heads of sectors of the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, BSSR, ZSFSR, Central Asia, technical, general and military censors (total 29 people). On January 21, 1936, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, under the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars, a department for the control of foreign literature was created with the functions of monitoring foreign literature entering the USSR (on foreign languages). By the same decree under the Glavlit of the RSFSR and

15 GARF. F. 5446. Op. 1c. D. 472. L. 78.

16 In September 1933 - June 1935. former boss 4th department of the headquarters of the Central Asian military district K.A. Batmanov (at the same time he was at the disposal of the Red Army Razve-dupra); In June 1935 - February 1936. military censor of the Central Military Censorship of the Red Army P.I. Kolosov; July 1937-1938 - I.I. Bubble; 1940 - A.V. Gorkov. In 1940, the OVTS was returned to the Glavlit.

In the Glavlitas of the Union Republics, the sectors of foreign literature were placed at the disposal of the Plenipotentiary under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

At the same time, another “List of information constituting a state secret” was published. On March 14, 1936, People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov and the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the Protection of Military Secrets in the press S. Ingulov approved a new “List of letters “A” of information constituting a military secret and not subject to disclosure in order to protect the interests of the defense of the USSR (in peaceful time)" 1936

"List of letters. “A” of information constituting a military secret and not subject to disclosure in order to protect the interests of the defense of the USSR (in peacetime) ”approved by the People's Commissar of Defense K. Voroshilov and the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the Protection of Military Secrets in the press S. Ingulov on March 14, 1936 for the first time after List of 193317. On the cover of the List. "The order of the Commissioner of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the Protection of Military Secrets of March 31, 1936 was cited on the procedure for working with the" List of information constituting a state secret "contradictory to the published law:" It is strictly forbidden to make copies of the "List." as a whole or a separate part of it. In the introduction to the "List." it was also said: "The following information and images constitute a military secret and are not subject to disclosure in print, posters, diagrams, radio broadcasts, films, transparencies, exhibitions and open meetings." Then came another deviation from the law of 1926: “All data from which conclusions can be drawn indirectly (by calculation, comparison or logical conclusions) revealing military secrets are also not subject to disclosure.” For the loss of the “List.”, as well as for the disclosure of the information contained in it, the perpetrators were punished under Art. 193/25 of the Criminal Code of the USSR. In "List" there were 26 sections, uniting 228 articles: organization and deployment of the Red Army, mobilization and operational plans, air defense, military equipment and training of the Red Army, discipline and political and morale of the Red Army, military budget and construction of the USSR, air force The Red Army, communications and transport, communications, military, chemical and aviation industries, civil aviation, cartography, geodesy and photography, aerial photography, geology, hydrogeology, hydrography, hydrographic service of instruments and fences, meteorology, hydraulic structures, Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route , public organizations contributing to the defense of the country, military and sanitary affairs, border and internal

17 GARF. F. 5446. Op. 17. D. 316. L. 6 - 79.

troops of the NKVD, miscellaneous. Seven appendices were added to the sections - a list of cities in which the presence of airports and airfields can be shown, a list of military units and formations of the Red Army, the numbers and titles of which are allowed to be published in print, etc.

After the publication of the List (which was valid until the approval of the new List of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of 02.01.1940), Glavlit issued additions to it every year: in 1936 - 372 circular additions, in 1937 - 300, in 1938 there were 29 additional circulars and orders of a list character18. In 1939, the list of letters “A” of information constituting a military secret (for peacetime) and the List of letters “B” of information constituting a state secret and not subject to disclosure for political (internal and external) and economic purposes interests of the USSR, in 1940 - A short list of information constituting a state secret. In 1938-1941. additions to the List of information constituting a military secret (for wartime) were also sent out.

On the day the Great Patriotic War, 06/22/1941, the “List of information constituting military and state secrets” was introduced (approved by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on 01/02/1940), as well as “Additions to the list for wartime” sent to the places on the eve of the war. In 1944, the "List of information constituting military and state secrets for wartime" was published.

After the war, in 1945-1946. Glavlit developed drafts of the "List of information constituting military and state secrets in peacetime"19. On June 8, 1947, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted the "List of information constituting a state secret, the disclosure of which is punishable by law"20. It was divided into four sections, which included 14 items: 1) “information of a military nature” (data on the Armed Forces of the USSR, mobilization and operational plans, data on the military industry, discoveries in the field of defense of the USSR, documents and publications related to defense THE USSR). Compared to List. In 1926, it was supplemented with a new clause on the composition of all reserves in the USSR;

2) "Information of an economic nature" contained the state of foreign exchange funds, plans for exports and imports. Compared with the list of 1926, two items were added to it - on geological reserves and mining of non-ferrous and rare metals and lands and “on industry as a whole and its individual sectors, agriculture, trade and communications”;

18 GARF. F. 5446. Op. 22. D. 1801. L. 19; Op. 23a. D. 644. L. 11.

19 GARF. F. 9425. Op. 1. D. 304, 305.

3) "Information about discoveries, inventions and improvements of a non-military nature" (highlighted in comparison with the 1926 List in a separate paragraph); 4) "Information of a different nature" included, as before, data on foreign policy and trade, ciphers and secret correspondence. The paragraph on measures to combat counter-revolution and espionage was excluded, but paragraph 14 was added, which substantiated the subjectivity of the application of the norms of the List. For the first time "List." received a broad interpretation: it could include<Другие сведения, которые будут признаны СМ СССР не подлежащими разглашению». В связи с этим 9 июня 1947 г. был принят Указ Президиума ВС СССР «Об ответственности за разглашение государственной тайны и за утрату документов, содержащих государственную тайну»21.

By order of the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky Committee on Inventions and Discoveries under the leadership of Chairman A.I. Mikhailov, a draft list was developed that summarized new lists of information constituting state secrets for 97 allied ministries and departments, taking into account the decisions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of 03/14/1947 and 04/08/1947 on inventions and discoveries. Unlike the List of 01/02/1940, the headings of some sections were clarified and supplemented: the section "Mobilization training" was supplemented with information on reserves (transferred from the section of industry), the section "Inventions" became known as "Inventions and discoveries", the section "Finance" - "Finance and Economics". The Defense Industry and Industry and Reserves sections are merged into the Industry section. A new section "Agriculture" has appeared. In total, 13 sections were delimited (instead of 12 in 1940). Each section and the norm introduced into it was accompanied by an indication of the secrecy regime. However, this draft list was not approved. On August 28, 1947, the USSR Council of Ministers instructed a commission led by the USSR Prosecutor General (and since January 1948, the USSR Minister of Justice) K.P. Gorshenin, as part of the Minister of State Control of the USSR L.Z. Mekhlis, Minister of Justice of the USSR N.M. Rychkov, managing director of the Central Statistical Bureau and Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR V.N. Starovsky, 1st Deputy NKVD I.A. Serov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army A.I. Antonov, head of Glavlit K.K. Omelchenko, manager of affairs of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Ya.E. Chadayev to consider the draft of a wider List in the development of the decision of the Council of Ministers of 06/08/1948 No.

The new Project (based on A. Mikhailov's project) entered the Council of Ministers in December 1947, then it was finalized and agreed upon. In the proposed "List of the most important information constituting a state secret" (adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on March 1, 1948), in contrast to 1940, the section "Military information" was significantly expanded and supplemented. According to the proposals of the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR; new information about radar, jet technology, atomic energy, the Arctic, etc. was included; sections on foreign trade, economics and discoveries were reworked on the proposals of the State Planning Commission and ministries, a new section "Agriculture" was introduced. There were eight sections in total, uniting 124 articles: 1) mobilization issues and information about reserves; 2) information of a military nature; 3) information of an economic nature (industry, minerals, agriculture, transport and communications); 4) finance; 5) foreign policy and foreign trade; 6) issues of science and technology (information on issues of atomic energy, on domestic radar and jet technology, on discoveries and inventions, on cartography, geology, meteorology and hydrology); 7) information about the Arctic; 8) various information (accidents, ciphers, crime, special settlements, mortality and birth rates).

For the first time, it was determined that "State secrets include both the information itself, its constituents, and materials related to this information (correspondence, documents, etc.)." In 1948 (and until 1991), information constituting a state secret was endowed with three degrees of secrecy: "C" (secret), "SS" (top secret) and "OV" (special importance). By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 1, 1948, the ministries and central institutions of the USSR were obliged to draw up their departmental lists of information constituting a state secret. Since that moment, a huge number of departmental lists have appeared.

Simultaneously with the "List." the Instruction of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR on ensuring the preservation of state secrets in institutions and enterprises of the USSR was also approved (the previous one was approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR on 02.01.1940). On the basis of this List, Glavlit issued "Lists of information prohibited for publication in the open press, on radio and television" (1949, 1958, etc.).

From 1949 to 1957, publications were published in which the development and refinement of the "List." continued: Mandatory censorship rules for the regional press and radio broadcasting. M., 1949; Consolidated Instructions No. 1 (Glavlit Circular 4/s dated May 16, 1951); Consolidated instructions No. 1 for the regional press (1951). In July 1957, a new “List of information prohibited for publication in the open press, radio and television broadcasts” was published, including

12 sections (250 items): mobilization issues and information about reserves; information of a military nature; about industry and construction; about agriculture; transport and communications; about finance and trade; foreign policy and foreign trade; science and technology; by cartography; on aerohydrometeorology; health issues; different information.

Since 1957, a Listing Commission has been operating in Glavlit, whose task was to “consider issues related to the preparation of regulatory documents and their interpretation, which should ensure the correct and uniform application of documents by employees of the Main Directorate system”22.

On September 13, 1958, the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On measures to preserve state secrets" appeared. Therefore, in 1959, the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved a new (after 1948) “List of information constituting a state secret” and adopted an “Instruction on ensuring the safety of state secrets in institutions and enterprises of the USSR”.

On December 3, 1980, the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1121-387 “On approval of the List of the most important information constituting state secrets and the Regulations on the procedure for establishing the degree of secrecy of categories of information and determining the degree of secrecy of information contained in works, documents and products” was adopted.

Ministries and State Committees of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR issued their Lists, which they agreed with Glavlit. These Lists were marked with chipboard and were built according to a certain template, in which their own specifics were invested. The information provided for by these Lists included "materials containing unclassified data ..., the open publication of which was recognized as inappropriate."

The scope of the concept of "open publication" has changed. In 1981-1989 “Open publication is understood as the publication of materials in the open press, radio and television broadcasts, announcement at international, foreign and open intra-union congresses, conferences, meetings, symposiums, demonstration in films, exhibiting in museums, exhibitions, fairs, public defense of dissertations, deposit of manuscripts, export of materials abroad. In 1989, “Open publication is understood as the publication of materials in the open press (including the publication of official materials that do not have

22 See: Regulations on the List Commission of the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press under the Council of Ministers of the USSR // History of Soviet Political Censorship: Documents and Comments. M., 1997. S. 376-379.

vulnerabilities), broadcasts on television and radio, announcement at international, foreign and open intra-union congresses, conferences, meetings, symposiums, public defense of dissertations, demonstration in films, filmstrips, transparencies and slide films, exhibiting in museums, exhibitions, fairs, depositing manuscripts, texts of reporting materials of research and development works subject to state registration, export of materials abroad or their transfer to foreign citizens.

The basic principle for determining the information that can be published was the following: “When preparing materials for open publication, it is necessary to proceed from the totality of all restrictions related to its content. It is not allowed that individual information that is not prohibited for open publication, when accumulated (summary information), leads to the disclosure of state, military or official secrets.

All Lists. had a “General Part”, which defined the following information about the authorities in the USSR prohibited for publication: “Publication and citation of laws, decrees, resolutions, orders (and their projects) of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the Union Republics, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. See USSR., references to these documents in all cases where the indicated materials have not previously been published in official publications, are made with the permission of the Secretary of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces. or Manager of Affairs of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. respectively". “Publication and citation of resolutions and other materials (and their drafts) of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, as well as references to these documents, if they have not been previously published in official publications or in the press organs of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, are made with the permission of the General Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU or the General Departments of the Central Committee of the Communist Parties of the Union Republics, respectively.

Then came some diversity in the existing sections, which included: II. Issues of civil defense (civil defense plans, information on the state of forces and means of civil defense, information on the evacuation of workers and employees in wartime, the location of shelters, protection of water supply, control of radioactive, chemical and bacterial contamination, etc.); III. Information of an economic and industrial nature (average for the industry, the actual duration of construction of individual industrial facilities since 1977, the average cost of production, price indices for precious metals, data on financing of the ministry, etc.); IV. Issues of labor and wages (information on

distribution of workers and employees into groups by salary, by age and sex); V. Information on science and technology (information on the technical equipment of universities, information on scientific areas related to the defense of the country, on technologies, on the results of developments in a number of secret areas, a description of the designs of new machines, on equipment parameters, new methods and means of treatment tumors, technologies, research methods, etc.); VI. Issues of foreign relations (information on contracts between foreign firms and Soviet foreign trade associations, export plans, information on commercial negotiations, on the supply of low-quality goods abroad, export and import prices, etc.); VII. Miscellaneous information (about secret security agencies, secret design bureaus, secret libraries, departmental security, industrial injuries).

Preparing material for printing, employees of ministries, in addition to the "Lists." should also be guided by the following documents: "List of information to be classified by the Ministry ...", "List of information prohibited for publication in the open press, radio and television broadcasts" (1976, 1987) and additions to it , published by the Glavlit of the USSR, “Regulations on the procedure for preparing materials intended for publication in the open press and in publications marked “For official use”, as well as for consideration at open congresses, conferences and symposiums” (1977, 1988) .

Thus a system was created in which the data, not being secret, could not be published; the decision on the possibility of their publication was made by the head of a department.

The next "lists." were published in 1984 and in 1990 (“List of information prohibited for publication”). Back in 1988, Glavlit proposed removing some restrictions in the "List." from sections II (Finance) and XII (Foreign policy and foreign trade).

In 1990, after the adoption of the USSR Law "On the Press and Other Mass Media" on August 24, 1990, Glavlit was transformed into the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press and Other Mass Media (GUOT) under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. He approved the "Guidelines for the protection of information subject to protection from disclosure in the press and other media." However, the public struggle for the abolition of censorship led to the fact that on July 25, 1991, the GUOT was transformed into the Agency for the Protection of State Secrets in the Mass Media under the Ministries of

Information and Press Service of the USSR23. After the "August" days of 1991, which shocked not only Russia, but the whole world, the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 11, 1991 "On measures to protect freedom of the press in the RSFSR" ordered the formation of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Freedom of the Press and Mass information under the Ministry of Press and Mass Information of the RSFSR. On the basis of this decree, the Minister of Press and Information of the Russian Federation M. Poltoranin, by order of November 22, 1991, abolished the GUOT. On October 25, his order determined the composition of the liquidation commission of the Agency for the Protection of State Secrets in the Mass Media24, which completed its work by December 25, 1991.25 Two days later, the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Mass Media” was adopted, which proclaimed freedom of access to information, the abolition of censorship.

However, despite the liquidation of censorship organizations in Russia, the problem of protecting military and state secrets remained, which was and is being studied by many scientists26. Consider the legal status of state and military secrets in the Russian Federation since 1991.

In Art. 4 “Inadmissibility of abuse of freedom of the mass media” of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Mass Media” stated: “It is not allowed to use the mass media for the purpose of committing criminal acts, for disclosing information constituting state or other specially protected by law

23 Order of the Ministry of Information and Press of the USSR No. 5 On the Agency for the Protection of State Secrets in the Mass Media under the Ministry of Information and Press of the USSR // History of Soviet Political Censorship: Documents and Comments. M., 1997. S. 400-401. See also: Monakhov V.N. The last point in the history of Glavlit // On the approaches to the special depository. SPb., 1995. S. 93-94.

24 Order No. 3 of the Agency for the Protection of State Secrets in the Mass Media under the Ministry of Information and Press of the USSR on the work of the liquidation commission // Ist. owls. polit. censorship. pp. 404-407.

25 Goryaeva T. M. Soviet political censorship. pp. 60-61.

26 Bobylov Yu. What is useful for a novice entrepreneur and technology manager to know about “state secrets” // Management of innovations. Formation and development of a small technology firm. M., 1999. S. 91-115; Secret trends. The new law "On State Secrets" raises specific management problems // Nezavisimoe voen. review 1998. No. 33; State secret and the development of society // Svobod. thought-xx! 2000. No. 1. S. 69-79; Pogulyaev V. V., Morgunova E. A. Commentary on the Federal Law “On Information, Informatization and Information Protection”. M., 2004. The book provides an article-by-article commentary on the Federal Law of February 20, 1995 No. 24-FZ, taking into account the current changes, outlines the basic principles of the current information legislation, explores in detail the legal regimes of commercial, official secrets, personal data and other types of confidential information. Dmitriev Yu. A., Ulybina, T. S. Problems and prospects for the development of legislative regulation of state secrets in Russia // State and Law. 2008. no. 2. S. 78-79.

secret."27. It was this article that was later supplemented several times with new requirements and a list of restrictions on the dissemination of information.

Thus, the new state declared the need to preserve and protect state (military, etc.) secrets. On September 18, 1992, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted Decree No. 733-55 “On a temporary list of information constituting a state secret” (announced order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 052-92), marked “Secret”, which was not subject to official publication in accordance with Clause 1 of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 302 dated March 26, 1992. On September 21, 1993, the Law of the Russian Federation “On State Secrets” came into force, according to which the President of the Russian Federation approves the List of information classified as state secrets prepared by the Government of the Russian Federation (“state secrets - information protected by the state in the field of its military, foreign policy, economic, intelligence, counterintelligence and operational-search activities, the dissemination of which may harm the security of the Russian Federation”)28. Since the Government did not submit such a List, from December 25, 1993 to November 30, 1995, there was no legislative definition of what information is classified as a state secret. Therefore, the Decree of the State Duma No. 1271-1 GD dated

On October 27, 1995, “On the List of Information Classified as State Secrets,” it was recognized that “the law enforcement agencies of the country are deprived of the legal basis for performing their functions to ensure the security of the state, society and the individual.” On November 30, 1995, the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation approved the published "List of information classified as state secrets"29.

If we talk about military secrets after 1991, then its regulation can be traced to the "Temporary list of information to be classified in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation", put into effect on January 1, 1994 by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 071 of September 7, 1993 It ceased to be valid on September 1, 1996 from the date of the entry into force by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 055 of August 10, 1996 "The list of information to be classified in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation."

27 On the mass media: Law of the Russian Federation of 27 Dec. 1991 No. 2124-1 // Ros. newspaper. 1992. 08 Feb.

28 The law is still in force in the 2009 version.

In the Soviet Union, they knew how to keep secrets and loved them. So, in fact, it is easier to manage a country whose citizens live under the motto "the less you know - the better you sleep." Both glasnost and the subsequent collapse of the Land of Soviets could not break through half a century of armor of omissions and outright lies.

What, for example, was hidden behind the scenes of the Caribbean Crisis? Where did portable nuclear bombs come from in the Soviet Union? And the most interesting thing is where, in the end, did the billions from the untouchable reserve of “party gold” disappear?

Lunar program

By the 1960s, the USSR was leading the space race. The first satellite, the first animal, the first man - so how did it happen that the Americans still got to the moon? Until 1981, the Soviet Union generally denied the existence of a manned lunar program - until the Kosmos-434 satellite entered the atmosphere over Australia. Then I had to admit that it was an experimental spacecraft to the Moon, but no other details of the program are known so far.

Portable nuclear bomb

Rumors that the Soviet Union developed portable nuclear weapons turned out to be true. General Lebed of unforgettable memory let the Western press know that he had seen these nuclear devices. The so-called "nuclear satchel" RYA-6 weighing 25 kilograms and with a capacity of one kiloton was in service with the GRU.

Biological weapons

According to rumors, biological weapons appeared in the Land of the Soviets during the Second World War. Western experts still believe that in 1942, Soviet scientists infected German invaders with tularemia, which was carried by pre-infected rats.

Caribbean crisis

In 1962, several rounds of secret negotiations took place between Nikita Khrushchev, Raul Castro and Enresto Che Guevara. The results are well known to all: Cuba agreed to place nuclear weapons on its territory, but what could the leader of the USSR promise in exchange for such a risk?

Operation Flute

Everyone knows that the Americans conducted experiments on the use of psychotropic drugs on their soldiers. The head of the direction, scientists Ken Alibek, became a defector and led the development of psychotropic drugs already under the development of the KGB. Operation "Flute" took place in several stages: murders, abductions, re-recruitment were carried out with the use of the latest psychotropic drugs.

Last Impact Bunker

The secret underground bunker "Grotto" has been "shone" in the press more than once. Each time the existence of this dinosaur from the times of the USSR was explained differently - either uranium is being produced here, or a shelter for the government is being built. For a long time, the Americans believed (and maybe they were right) that the secret headquarters of the "retaliatory strike" missile-strategic forces was located here.

Party Gold

Probably the best kept secret of the post-Soviet period is the question of where the notorious "party gold" actually went. Huge, truly incredible amounts of money in gold remained with the Communist Party after the collapse of the USSR. And then they just vanished into thin air.

Today it is difficult to overestimate the role and importance of information in the life of modern society. Information is the most important resource for the life of society, a resource for decision-making, a resource for management. This applies to the personal life of a person, and the commercial activities of firms, and any other aspects of the life of society and the state. State secret is a resource of state security in confrontation and defense of its interests in the international arena.

Nowadays, state secrets are an integral part of national interests. This is a special component of the national security of the state.

The tasks of ensuring the security of the state predetermine the need to protect its information resources from the leakage of important political, economic, scientific, technical and military information. This determines the existence of the institution of state secrets, which creates an opportunity for the state to pursue an independent information policy, to protect its national interests.

The history of the formation of the protection of state secrets goes back centuries. State secrets and the hunt for them arose at the dawn of human society, when the first states appeared. The beginning in the legal protection of state secrets and criminal penalties for crimes related to the disclosure, transfer or loss of important state information, various kinds of actions that harm the state, belongs to Germany. Austria-Hungary, France, Italy and Russia followed suit.

In 1871, the Code was issued in Germany, providing for punishment in the form of hard labor for disclosing to a foreign government plans for fortifications and other information, the safety of which had to be kept secret from hostile states. Those who, without special permission, took plans or drawings of fortifications or individual fortifications, were punished with arrest or a fine. In the Russian Empire, a code of laws issued in 1832 and 1842 forbade officials from divulging state secrets under pain of death or hard labor. The published Code "On Punishments" provided for the following punishments. The disclosure by Russian citizens of any state secret to foreign nationals, even states not hostile to Russia, as well as the communication to them of plans for Russian fortresses and other fortified structures (harbours, ports, arsenals) or the publication of these plans without the permission of the government, entailed a punishment in the form of imprisonment to prison or settlements in the most remote places of Siberia. This is one small example from a legal act regulating legal relations in the field of protecting state secrets.

Before the socialist revolution, there were no major changes in the organization of the protection of state secrets. There were too many political, domestic problems in the country. The twenties and thirties of the last century served as the beginning of the formation of state secrets in the young Soviet Republic. In 1920, the NKVD, according to the Decree of the Council of Labor and Defense of August 18, 1920, was granted the exclusive right to determine the procedure for entering and leaving certain areas. Thus, for the first time in the history of Russia, the concept of a territory or area of ​​a special regime was introduced.

At the end of the 20s of the last century, the unification of the composition of secret bodies was carried out and a standard nomenclature of positions for secret apparatuses of institutions and organizations was established. Secret departments have been created in the central offices of the Supreme Council of National Economy and the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, secret departments, in the remaining people's commissariats - secret parts, and in central offices, departments and departments - secret parts and secret departments, respectively. Information security services were called differently: secret parts, subdivisions of secret office work, encryption departments.

Until 1921, no special attempts were made to streamline the processing and storage of documents containing state secrets. Only in the textbook "Military Secret" published by the Department of Military Educational Institutions of the Western Front in 1921, not only the simplest methods of organizing secret office work were considered, but also a list of information that could be a military secret. The author of the textbook, a former military intelligence officer of the tsarist army, N.E. Kakurin tried in this way to solve the problem of protecting military secrets in the active Red Army. On October 13, 1921, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars approved the List of information constituting a secret and not subject to distribution. Information was divided into two groups: military and economic. From February 6, 1922, the 8th special department under the Cheka became known as the special department under the GPU - OGPU - GU GB NKVD of the USSR. The first branch of this special department was engaged in "monitoring all state institutions, party and public organizations for the preservation of state secrets." It was the special department that was the head organization coordinating all measures to protect state secrets. Although its main task was to develop guidelines governing various aspects of the organization of the protection of state secrets.

The first attempt to bring order to the processing and storage of secret documents was made on August 30, 1922. Then the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopted a resolution "On the procedure for the storage and movement of secret documents." In this document, for the first time, it was recorded that in order to organize and conduct secret office work, it is necessary to create secret parts.

In the same year, the Orgburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) adopted a resolution "On the procedure for keeping secret resolutions of the Central Committee of the RCP(b)". A similar document was published in the Red Army. RVSR Order No. 2011 determined the procedure for handling top secret correspondence. By a resolution of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in January 1923, the creation under the GPU of a special interdepartmental bureau for disinformation (Disinformburo) was approved, consisting of representatives from the GPU, the Central Committee of the RCP (b), ZhID, RVS, RU Headquarters of the Red Army.

On April 24, 1926, the Council of People's Commissars approved a new open "List of information that is, in its content, a specially protected state secret." All information was divided into three groups: information of a military nature, information of an economic nature and information of a different nature. In addition, three categories of secrecy were introduced. According to the List, the information indicated in it was assigned one of three classifications of secrecy: top secret, secret and not subject to disclosure.

Two months later, the special department at the OGPU issued a secret "List of questions of secret, top secret and non-public correspondence." In fact, it was a new edition of the list dated April 24, 1926. The Soviet Republic had to develop and create an effective system for protecting state secrets, which continues to exist in a modified state to this day. Its basic principles and structure were formed in the 20-30s of the last century. In the future, only the governing documents were edited and the names of the information protection bodies were changed. The most effective centralized system for protecting state secrets worked in the 1960s-1980s. So effective and optimal were the principles laid down in the 20s of the last century.

In the Soviet Union, there was an administrative-legal system for the protection of state secrets. At the same time, there were actually two systems of secrecy - state and party. Democratic changes in the country urgently demanded a change in the entire system of classifying information as state secrets and its legislative regulation. Under the conditions of radical changes in the political and economic structure of the Russian Federation, the previously developed mechanisms for protecting state secrets no longer correspond to the new conditions and have largely lost their effectiveness.

The Declaration of the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen of the Russian Federation of November 22, 1991 states: “Every person has the right to seek, receive and freely disseminate information, restrictions on this right may be established by the Law only for the purpose of protecting personal, family, professional, commercial and state secrets, as well as morality” (art. 13.2).

To date, the institution of state secrets is regulated by the federal law "On State Secrets" dated July 21, 1993 No. 5485-1. In fact, this is the main legal document regulating legal relations in the field of ensuring the protection of state secrets from unauthorized distribution. Only those information, the disclosure of which is extremely dangerous for the state, society and the individual, can be classified as state secrets. They constitute a real state secret, and not just a stamp in the upper right corner of the document.

Legislation should become verified, unambiguous, and uncomplicated. Today, the system for protecting state secrets should be built in such a way that it does not become the property of either external opponents of the Russian Federation or hostile elements within the state. The entire “chain” of illegal actions with state secrets (obtaining, collecting, storing, transferring, disclosing, selling, commercial or other use of information constituting state secrets) in their most socially dangerous form should be in the sphere of criminal law regulation. The system of criminal law protection of state secrets should strictly delineate responsibility for crimes, depending on three conditions:

1) how high is the danger of disclosing state secrets for society and the individual;

2) legally or illegally the subject obtained access to state secrets;

3) intentionally or unintentionally he committed a crime.

Thus, only with the transition to democratic foundations, the state openly, at the legislative level, clearly defined what information should be classified as state secrets, how to protect it, and what measure of responsibility can come for a citizen who violates the legal norms of its protection.

A.P. Tomshin, N.I. Glukhov

Literature

1. Declaration of the Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen of the Russian Federation, dated November 22, 1991
2. Efremov A. "Concepts and types of confidential information" 2002.
3. List of questions of secret, top secret and not subject to disclosure correspondence dated 06/22/1926
4. List of information constituting a secret and not subject to distribution dated 10/13/1921
5. Decree "On the procedure for the storage and movement of secret documents" 08/30/1922.
6. Decree "On the procedure for keeping secret resolutions of the Central Committee of the RCP (b)" 1922.
7. Decree 04/24/1926 "List of information that is in its content a specially protected state secret."
8. RVSR Order No. 2011.
9. Stolyarov N.V. "The history of the formation of the organization for the protection of state secrets in Russia", 2003.
10. Cathedral Code (1832–1842).
11. Ustinkov A.V. "State secret as a function of the state in relation to society and the individual", Law and Security magazine. - 2004. - No. 1.
12. Federal Law "On State Secrets" No. 5485-1 dated July 21, 1993.
13. Federal Law "On Trade Secrets" No. 98-FZ dated July 29, 2004.
14. Federal Law "On Information, Informatization and Information Protection" No. 15-FZ dated 10.01.2003.

Communist Russia was an example of openness and political transparency. This is not a common statement, at least outside of North Korea. (Although if you've read this, chances are you're not there.) In any case, this sarcasm serves as a reminder that the Soviet Union really liked to keep secrets - below are ten secrets you may not have known about.

10. The world's largest nuclear disaster (at the time)
When people hear about major nuclear disasters, Chernobyl and Fukushima come to mind for most. Few people know about the third nuclear disaster - the Kyshtym accident in 1957, which occurred near the city of Kyshtym in southern Russia. As in the case of the Chernobyl accident, the main cause of the disaster was poor design, namely the construction of a cooling system that could not be repaired. When coolant started leaking from one of the tanks, the workers simply turned it off and didn't touch it for a year. Who needs cooling systems in Siberia?

It turns out that cooling is needed for containers in which radioactive waste is stored. The temperature in the tank rose to 350 degrees Celsius, which eventually led to an explosion that threw a 160 ton concrete cover into the air (which was originally 8 meters underground). Radioactive substances spread over 20,000 square kilometers.

The houses of 11,000 people were destroyed after the evacuation of nearby areas, and about 270,000 people were exposed to radiation. Only in 1976 did a Soviet emigrant first mention the catastrophe in the Western press. The CIA had known about the disaster since the 1960s, but fearful of the Americans' negative attitude towards their own nuclear industry, they decided to downplay the severity of the accident. Only in 1989, three years after the Chernobyl accident, did the details of the catastrophe in Kyshtym become known to the public.

9 Manned Lunar Program

In May 1961, US President John F. Kennedy announced that he believed the US should put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. By that point, the Soviet Union was leading the space race - the first object launched into orbit, the first animal in orbit, and the first man in space. However, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to visit the moon, thus defeating the Soviet Union in this race. In a race in which the Soviet Union did not officially take part - until 1990 the USSR denied that they had their own manned lunar program. It was part of the policy that each space program was kept secret until it was successful.

The Soviet Union had to partially acknowledge the existence of the program in August 1981, when the Soviet satellite Kosmos-434, launched in 1971, entered the atmosphere over Australia. The Australian government, concerned that nuclear materials might be on board, was assured by the Soviet Foreign Minister that the satellite was an experimental lunar craft.

Other details of the program, including test runs, have been hidden. The test of lunar suits during the docking of spacecraft in 1969 was presented as part of the construction of the space station - the USSR continued to claim that they had no plans to land on the moon. As a result, the failed Soviet program to land on the moon was closed in 1976.

8. Treasure of creativity


In the 1990s, Western journalists and diplomats were invited to a secret museum hidden in the remote city of Nukus, Uzbekistan. The museum housed hundreds of works of art dating from the beginning of the Stalinist regime, when artists were forced to live up to the ideals of the Communist Party. "Decomposing bourgeois creativity" was replaced by paintings of factories and without the participation of Igor Savitsky (collector), most of the work of artists of that time would have been completely lost.

Savitsky urged artists and their families to entrust their work to him. He hid them in Nukus, a city surrounded by hundreds of kilometers of desert.

This is a unique item on this list in that it tells what was hidden not so much from the outside world, but from the despotic regime. Although the question of the importance of creativity itself remains open, the value of the story of how creativity was kept secret for decades is beyond doubt.

7. Death of an astronaut


The Soviet Union more than once “erased” cosmonauts from its history. So, for example, data about the first astronaut who died during the space race was hidden. Valentin Bondarenko died during training in March 1961. Its existence in the West was not known until 1982, and public recognition followed only in 1986. The faint of heart should refrain from reading the next paragraph.

During the isolation exercise in the pressure chamber, Bondarenko made a fatal mistake. After removing the medical sensor and cleaning his skin with alcohol, he threw cotton wool on the hot stove he used to make his tea, causing it to burst into flames. When he tried to put out the fire with his sleeve, the 100% oxygen atmosphere caused his clothes to catch fire. It took several minutes for the door to open. By then, the astronaut had suffered third-degree burns all over his body, except for his feet, the only place the doctor could find blood vessels. The skin, hair and eyes of Bondarenko were burned. He whispered, "It hurts too much... do something to stop the pain." Sixteen hours later he died.

Denying this incident just to avoid bad news was a very bad decision.

6. Mass famine is one of the worst in history
Many have heard about the famine (Holodomor) of 1932, but internal and external attempts to hide this fact are worthy of mention. In the early 1930s, the policies of the Soviet Union led (whether intentionally or not) to the death of several million people.

It would seem that such a thing is difficult to hide from the outside world, but fortunately for Stalin and his subordinates, the rest of the world vacillated between deliberate ignorance and denial of the facts.

The New York Times, like the rest of the American press, covered up or downplayed the famine in the USSR. Stalin organized several prearranged tours for foreign commissions: the stores were filled with food, but anyone who dared to approach the store was arrested; the streets were washed and all the peasants were replaced by members of the communist party. H G Wells from England and George Bernard Shaw from Ireland said the rumors about the famine were unfounded. Moreover, after the French Prime Minister visited Ukraine, he described it as a "flowering garden."

By the time the results of the 1937 census were classified, the famine had already been overcome. Despite the fact that the number of victims of the famine is comparable to the Holocaust, the assessment of famine as a crime against humanity has been given only in the last ten years.

5. Ekranoplan


In 1966, an American spy satellite captured an unfinished Russian seaplane. The plane was larger than any aircraft that the United States possessed. It was so large that, according to experts, such a wingspan would not allow the aircraft to fly well. Even stranger was the fact that the plane's engines were much closer to the nose than to the wings. The Americans were puzzled and remained puzzled until the USSR collapsed 25 years later. The Caspian Sea Monster, as it was called then, was an ekranoplan - a vehicle that looks like a mixture of an airplane and a ship that flies just a few meters from the water.

Even the mention of the name of the device was forbidden to those who participated in its development, despite the fact that huge sums of money were allocated to the project. In the future, these devices, of course, were very useful. They could carry hundreds of soldiers or even several tanks at speeds of 500 km/h, while remaining unnoticed by radar. They are even more fuel efficient than the best modern cargo aircraft. The Soviet Union even built one such aircraft, 2.5 times the length of a Boeing 747, equipped with 8 jet engines and six nuclear warheads on the roof (what else can be installed on a jet tank delivery ship?)

4 Worst Missile Disaster Ever


The disregard for health and safety was not limited to nuclear waste. On October 23, 1960, a new secret missile, the R-16, was being prepared for launch in the Soviet Union. Near the launcher, which contained a rocket using a new type of fuel, there were many specialists. The rocket leaked nitric acid - the only right decision in this case was to start the evacuation of everyone who was nearby.

However, instead, project commander Mitrofan Nedelin ordered the leak patched up. When the explosion occurred, everyone on the launch pad immediately died. The fireball was hot enough to melt the floor of the site, causing many who tried to escape to be stuck in place and burned alive. More than a hundred people died as a result of the incident. It remains the worst missile disaster in history.

Soviet propaganda immediately began its work. It was alleged that Nedelin died in a plane crash. Reports of the explosion were presented as rumors that swept the USSR. The first confirmation of the incident appeared only in 1989. To date, a monument has been erected dedicated to those who died in that disaster (but not to Nedelin himself). Although he officially remains a hero, those with any connection to the disaster remember him as the person responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people entrusted to him.

3. Smallpox outbreak (and containment program)
In 1948, a secret biological weapons laboratory was established in the Soviet Union on an island in the Aral Sea. The laboratory was engaged in the transformation of anthrax and bubonic plague into weapons. They also developed smallpox weapons and even conducted an outdoor test in 1971. By a mysterious coincidence, a weapon designed to cause a smallpox outbreak, when activated in the open, actually caused a smallpox outbreak. Ten people fell ill, three died. Hundreds of people were quarantined, and within 2 weeks, 50,000 people from nearby areas were vaccinated against smallpox.

The incident became widely known only in 2002. The outbreak was effectively contained, however, despite the scale of the incident, Moscow did not acknowledge what had happened. This is unfortunate, as valuable lessons could be learned from this case about what can happen if biological weapons ever fall into the hands of terrorists.

2. Dozens of cities


In the south of Russia there is a city that was not on any map. There were no bus lines that would stop in it, and no road signs confirming its existence. Postal addresses in it were listed as Chelyabinsk-65, although it was almost 100 kilometers from Chelyabinsk. Its current name is Ozersk and, despite the fact that tens of thousands of people lived in it, the existence of the city was unknown even in Russia until 1986. The secrecy was caused by the presence here of a plant for the processing of spent nuclear fuel. There was an explosion at this plant in 1957, but because of secrecy, the disaster was named after the city, which was located a few kilometers from Ozyorsk. This city was Kyshtym.

Ozersk is one of dozens of secret cities in the USSR. At the moment, 42 such cities are known, but it is believed that about 15 more cities are still under the cover of secrecy. The inhabitants of these cities were provided with better food, schools and comfortable conditions than the rest of the country. Those who still reside in such cities cling to their isolation - the few outsiders who are allowed to visit the cities are usually escorted by guards.

In an increasingly open and globalized world, many are leaving closed cities, and there is likely to be some limit to how long these cities can remain closed. However, many of these cities continue to fulfill their original function - whether it is the production of plutonium or the support of the navy.

1. Katyn massacre
As with the 1932 famine, the international denial of the Katyn massacre earned these murders top spot on this list. In the 1940s, the NKVD killed more than 22,000 prisoners from Poland and buried them in mass graves. According to the official version, the fascist troops were responsible for this. The truth was only recognized in 1990. So far, everything is predictable - however, this concealment of the crime came to the first place on the list due to the fact that it was possible to hide the execution not only by the Soviet Union, but also with the help of the leaders of the United States and Great Britain.

Winston Churchill, in an informal conversation, confirmed that the execution was most likely carried out by the Bolsheviks, who "can be very cruel." However, he insisted that the Polish government in exile stop making accusations, impose censorship on its press, Churchill also helped prevent an independent investigation of the incident by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The British ambassador to Poland described it as "taking advantage of England's good reputation to cover up what the killers had hidden with pine needles". Franklin Roosevelt also did not want Stalin to be blamed for the shootings.

Evidence that the US government knew about the true perpetrators of the Katyn massacre was suppressed during the 1952 parliamentary hearings. Moreover, the only government that spoke the truth about those events was the government of Nazi Germany. This is another sentence that can be read very infrequently.

It's easy to criticize the leaders of countries that actually let criminals go unpunished, but Germany, and then Japan, were more important issues, which means that sometimes very difficult decisions had to be made. The Soviet Union, with its military and industrial superpower, was necessary. “The government blames only the common enemy for these events,” wrote Churchill.