Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies

List of Soviet secret police agencies, the Soviet secret police agencies and their different names are as follows chronologically.

Related Topics:
Soviet - Secret police

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Note. For most items listed there the secret policy operations were only a part of their functions.

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The first secret police after the Russian Revolution, created by Lenin's decree on December 20 1917, was called "Cheka" (??). Officers were referred to as chekists, a name that is still applied to people under the FSB of Russia, the KGB's successor.

Related Topics:
Russian Revolution - Lenin - December 20 - 1917 - Cheka - FSB - Russia - KGB

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• Cheka (Abbreviation of Vecheka, itself an acronym for "All-Russian Extraordinary Committee to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage") (Russian SFSR)
• Felix Dzerzhinsky 1917 - 1918
• Yakov Peters 1918
• Felix Dzerzhinsky 1918 - 1922

February 6, 1922 Cheka becomes GPU, a section of the NKVD of the Russian SFSR.

Related Topics:
February 6 - 1922

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• NKVD - "People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs"
• GPU - State Political Directorate
• Felix Dzerzhinsky 1922 - 1923

November 15, 1923 GPU is reorganized into OGPU under Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Related Topics:
November 15 - 1923 - Council of People's Commissars

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• OGPU - "Joint State Political Directorate" or "All-Union State Political Board"
• Felix Dzerzhinsky 1923 - July 1926
• Vyacheslav Menzhinsky July 1926 - May 1934

July 10, 1934 OGPU becomes GUGB of NKVD of the USSR; NKVD of the Russian SFSR ceases to exist.

Related Topics:
July 10 - 1934 - GUGB

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• NKVD + GUGB - "Main Directorate for State Security" (Both GUGB and NKVD are headed by the same person.)
• Genrikh Yagoda 1934 - 1936
• Nikolai Yezhov 1936 - 1938
• Lavrenty Beria 1938 - 1945

February 3, 1941 the GUGB of NKVD is briefly separated out into the NKGB, then merged back in, and then in 1943 separated out again.

Related Topics:
February 3 - 1941 - 1943

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• NKGB - "People's Commissariat for State Security"
• Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov February 3, 1941 - July 20, 1941 (NKGB folded back into NKVD)
• Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov April 14, 1943 - 1946 (NKGB reseparated from NKVD)

March 18, 1946 all People's Commissariates are renamed to Ministries

Related Topics:
March 18 - 1946 - People's Commissariates - Ministries

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• MGB - "Ministry for State Security"
• Viktor Semionovich Abakumov 1946 - 1951
• Semion Denisovich Ignatiyev 1951 - 1953
• The East German secret police, the Stasi, took their name from this iteration.
• KI - "Committee of Information"
• Peter Fedotov MGB
• Fedor Kuznetsov GRU
• Yakov Malik Foreign Ministry

May 30, 1947 official decision with the expressed purpose of "upgrading coordination of different intelligence services and concentrating their efforts on major directions". In the summer of 1948 the military personnel in KI were returned to the Soviet military to reconstitute a foreign military intelligence arm of the GRU. KI sections dealing with the new East Bloc and Soviet emigres were returned to the MGB in late 1948. In 1951 the KI returned to the MGB.

Related Topics:
May 30 - 1947

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March 5, 1953 MVD and MGB are merged into the MVD by Lavrenty Beria.

Related Topics:
March 5 - 1953 - Lavrenty Beria

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• MVD - "Ministry of Internal Affairs"
• Sergey Nikiforovich Kruglov March, 1953 - March, 1954

March 13, 1954 newly independent force becomes the KGB, as Beria is purged and the MVD divests itself again of the functions of secret policing. Now after renames and tulmults, the KGB remains stable until 1991.

Related Topics:
March 13 - 1954 - 1991

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• KGB - Committee for State Security
• Ivan Serov March 13 1954 - December 8 1958
• Aleksandr Shelepin December 25 1958 - November 13 1961
• Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny November 13 1961 - May 18 1967
• Yuri Andropov May 18 1967 - May 26 1982
• Vitaliy Fedorchuk May 26 1982 - December 17 1982
• Viktor Chebrikov December 17 1982 - October 1 1988
• Vladimir Kryuchkov October 1 1988 - August 22 1991
• Leonid Shebarshin August 22 1991 - August 23 1991 (Acting)
• Vadim Bakatin August 23 1991 - October 22 1991

After the State Emergency Committee fails to overthrow Gorbachev and Yeltsin takes over, General Vadim Bakatin is given instructions to dissolve the KGB.

Related Topics:
State Emergency Committee - Gorbachev - Yeltsin - General - Vadim Bakatin

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