The law enforcement agency that replaced the Cheka was called. Creation of the Cheka: history of state security agencies

The FSB, or Russian Federal Security Service, is one of the successors to the USSR Committee (KGB), an organization known for its terror and intelligence activities that operated in the Soviet Union in the 20th century.

Security - Cheka - OGPU - KGB - FSB

The history of the FSB includes a number of name changes and reorganizations after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Officially, it bore the name KGB for 46 years, from 1954 to 1991. Repressive organizations have long been part of the political structure of Russia. The functions of these organizations were significantly expanded compared to the role of the political police played by the secret police during the reign of Tsar Nicholas II.

In 1917, Vladimir Lenin created the Cheka from the remnants. This new organization, which eventually became the KGB, was responsible for a wide range of tasks, including espionage, counterintelligence, and isolating the Soviet Union from Western goods, news, and ideas. Which led to the fragmentation of the Committee into many organizations, the largest of which is the FSB.

History of the creation of the FSB of Russia

In 1880, Tsar Alexander II formed the Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order, known as the "Okhranka". This organization at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. dealt with various radical groups inside Russia - spying on their members, infiltrating them and neutralizing them. With members of the secret police in the leadership of various revolutionary groups, the Tsar was constantly aware of events and could easily prevent any potential attack. For example, between 1908 and 1909, 4 out of 5 members of the St. Petersburg Bolshevik Party Committee were members of the Okhrana Branch. Nicholas II was so confident in his power over these groups that in November 1916 he ignored warnings of an imminent revolution.

After the February Democratic Revolution, Lenin and his Bolshevik Party secretly organized forces and carried out a coup on the second attempt. Lenin was a staunch supporter of terror and admired the Jacobins, the most radical French revolutionaries of 1790. He appointed Felix Dzerzhinsky as chairman of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD), whose main purpose was to fight the enemies of the regime and prevent sabotage throughout the country. The history of the Cheka (FSB) began with its creation on December 20, 1917 to increase the efficiency of the NKVD. The Extraordinary Commission became the basis for the later KGB. Lenin appointed its chairman Dzerzhinsky, a Polish nobleman who spent 11 years in prison for terrorist activities against the Tsar.

Red Terror

Soon Iron Felix began making changes to the Cheka. The history of the FSB in December 1920 was marked by the transfer of the organization's headquarters from St. Petersburg to the former office of the All-Russian Insurance Company, where it remains to this day. The Cheka itself conducted the investigation, made arrests, tried itself, kept them in concentration camps and executed them.

The history of the FSB-Cheka includes the murder of more than 500,000 people between its creation in 1917 and its renaming in 1922. “Red terror” became common practice. From each village, the security officers took 20-30 hostages and held them until the peasants gave up all their food supplies. If this did not happen, the hostages were shot. Although this system proved effective in maintaining Lenin's ideology, in order to improve economic relations with the West, the Cheka was dissolved and replaced by an equally brutal organization, the State Political Directorate (GPU).

Initially, the GPU was under the jurisdiction of the NKVD and had less powers than the Cheka. With Lenin's support, Dzerzhinsky remained chairman and eventually regained his former power. With the adoption of the USSR Constitution in July 1923, the GPU was renamed OGPU, or United State Political Administration.

Holodomor

In 1924, Lenin died and was succeeded by Joseph Stalin. Dzerzhinsky, who supported him in the battle for power, retained his position. After the death of Iron Felix in 1926, Menzhinsky became the head of the OGPU. One of the main tasks of the organization at that time was to maintain order among Soviet citizens when Stalin turned 14 million peasant farms into collective farms. The bloody history of the FSB includes the following fact. To meet the need for foreign currency, the OGPU forcibly seized bread and grain to sell for export, creating a famine that killed more than five million people.

From Yagoda to Yezhov

In 1934, Menzhinsky died under mysterious circumstances and was replaced by Genrikh Yagoda, a pharmacist by training. Under his leadership, the OGPU began to conduct research in the field of biological and chemical weapons. Yagoda liked to conduct experiments on prisoners personally. He was shot under Stalin after confessing to the murder of Menzhinsky in order to lead the OGPU.

The KGB had an umbrella structure, which consisted of similar committees in each of the 14 republics of the USSR. In the RSFSR, however, there was no regional organization. State security committees throughout Russia reported directly to the central authority in Moscow.

The leadership of the KGB was carried out by a chairman, approved by the Supreme Council on the proposal of the Politburo. He had 1-2 first and 4-6 just deputies. They, along with the heads of some departments, formed a collegium - a body that made important decisions regarding the actions of the organization.

The main tasks of the KGB covered 4 areas: protecting the state from foreign spies and agents, identifying and investigating political and economic crimes, protecting state borders and state secrets. To carry out these tasks, from 390 to 700 thousand people served in the six main departments.

Organizational structure

The 1st Main Directorate was responsible for all foreign operations and intelligence gathering. It consisted of several units, divided both by the operations performed (intelligence preparation, collection and analysis) and by geographical regions of the world. The specifics of the work required the selection of the most qualified personnel from all departments; the recruits had good academic performance, knew one or more languages, and also firmly believed in communist ideology.

The 2nd State Administration exercised internal political control over Soviet citizens and foreigners living in the USSR. This department prevented contacts between foreign diplomats and residents of the country; investigated political and economic crimes and maintained a network of informants; kept an eye on tourists and foreign students.

The 3rd Main Directorate was responsible for military counterintelligence and political supervision of the armed forces. It consisted of 12 departments that oversaw various military and paramilitary formations.

The 5th Main Directorate, together with the 2nd, dealt with internal security. Created in 1969 to combat political dissent, it was responsible for identifying and neutralizing opposition among religious organizations, national minorities and the intellectual elite (including the literary and artistic community).

The 8th Main Directorate was responsible for government communications. In particular, it monitored foreign communications, created ciphers used by KGB units, transmitted messages to agents abroad, and developed secure communications equipment.

The GU was responsible for protecting borders on land and at sea. It was divided into 9 border regions, which covered 67 thousand km of the USSR borders. The main duties of the troops were to repel a potential attack; suppression of illegal cross-border movement of people, weapons, explosives, contraband and subversive literature; monitoring of Soviet and foreign ships.

In addition to these six GIs, there were at least several other directorates, smaller in size and scope:

The 7th engaged in surveillance and provided personnel and technical equipment to monitor the activities of foreigners and suspicious Soviet citizens.
The 9th provided security for key party leaders and their families at the Kremlin and other government facilities throughout the country.
The 16th ensured the operation of telephone and radio communication lines used by government agencies.

As a vast and complex organization, the KGB, in addition to these departments, had an extensive apparatus that ensured the daily functioning of the organization. These are the personnel department, secretariat, technical support personnel, financial department, archives, administration department, as well as the party organization.

Decline of the KGB

On August 18, 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was visited at his government dacha on the Black Sea coast in Crimea by several conspirators, including Lieutenant General Yuri Plekhanov, head of the presidential security service, and Valery Boldin, Gorbachev's chief of staff, who felt that the party is under threat. They suggested that he either resign or renounce presidential powers in favor of Vice President Gennady Yanaev. Following Gorbachev's refusal, guards surrounded his home, preventing him from leaving or communicating with the outside world.

At the same time, in Moscow, the Alpha group of the 7th Directorate of the KGB received orders to attack the Russian parliament building and seize control of it. The unit was to conduct covert reconnaissance of the building on August 19th, and then infiltrate and capture it on August 20th and 21st. Contrary to the expectations of the members of the State Emergency Committee, the group led by Mikhail Golovatov decided not to carry out the operation. They delayed it until opposition forces led by Boris Yeltsin gathered to defend the building.

After the conspirators realized that the coup was poorly planned and would be unsuccessful, they tried to negotiate with Gorbachev, who was in their captivity. The President refused to meet with members of the State Emergency Committee. Some of the putschists were arrested and the coup was crushed.

The Gang of Eight included the vice president, the chairman of the KGB, a member of the Defense Council, a member of the Supreme Council, the chairman of the Association of State-Owned Enterprises and the Minister of Internal Affairs. Seven of them were arrested and convicted. The eighth shot himself in the head before his arrest.

After the coup attempt, Vladimir Kryuchkov, who had been chairman of the KGB for three years, was replaced by Vadim Bakatin, who had previously served as interior minister from 1988 to 1990, who then called for the dismantling of the State Security Committee. This position then became the reason for his removal and the appointment in his place of Boris Pugo, who subsequently supported the putsch.

Renaissance

Although the KGB formally ceased to exist, in 1991 it was divided into parts, which together performed the same functions as the Committee.

The Foreign Intelligence Service, created in October 1991, took over the tasks of the 1st Main Directorate for conducting foreign operations, collecting and analyzing intelligence.

The Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information was formed on the basis of the 8th Main Directorate and the 16th Directorate and is responsible for communications security and the transfer of intelligence data.

The 8-9 thousand military personnel who once made up the 9th Directorate were added to the Federal Security Service and the Presidential Security Service. These organizations are responsible for protecting the Kremlin and all important departments of the Russian Federation.

The history of the Russian FSB under its current name began after the Ministry of Security was disbanded in 1993. It included 75,000 people from the second, third and fifth GU. Responsible for internal security in the Russian Federation.

Forward to the past...

After years of terror among Soviet citizens, who constantly feared brutal interrogations by KGB officers or being sentenced to work in the harsh conditions of labor camps, the Committee for State Security ceased to exist under its former name. However, many still live in fear of this cruel and repressive organization. The history of the Russian FSB is full of glaring facts. Writers whose works were considered anti-Soviet and who had never seen their books in print became victims of the 5th Main Directorate of the KGB. Families were torn apart as Committee agents arrested, tried, and sentenced millions of people to Siberian labor camps or death. Most of those convicted did not commit any crimes - they became victims of circumstances, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because of a careless remark made at home. Some of them were killed simply because KGB agents had to fulfill quotas, and if there weren't enough spies within their jurisdiction, they would simply take innocent people and torture them until they confessed to crimes they didn't commit.

It seemed that this nightmare was gone forever. But the story of the Cheka-KGB-FSB does not end there. The recently announced plans to create the Ministry of State Security on the basis of the SVR and the FSB bring to mind the Stalinist structure of the same name, which was designed to protect the interests of the ruling party.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia celebrates its 20th anniversary. April 3, 1995 Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the law “On the Federal Security Service Bodies 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

AiF.ru talks about the FSB and its predecessors, who guarded the state interests of the USSR.

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 of the Council of People's Commissars of the 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 - “chekists”. Headed the first Soviet state security agency 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 further 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 railways and waterways;
fight against smuggling and border crossing by Soviet citizens);
carrying out special assignments of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars.

On May 9, 1924, the powers of the 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.

NKVD (1934-1943)

On July 10, 1934, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR (NKVD) was formed. The People's Commissariat was an all-Union one, and the OGPU was included in it in the form of a structural unit called the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB). The fundamental innovation was that the judicial board of the OGPU was abolished: the new department should not have judicial functions. The new People's Commissariat headed Genrikh Yagoda.

The area of responsibility of the NKVD included political investigation and the right to pass sentences out of court, the penal system, foreign intelligence, border troops, and counterintelligence in the army. In 1935, the functions of the NKVD included traffic regulation (GAI), and in 1937 NKVD departments for transport, including sea and river ports, were created.

On March 28, 1937, Yagoda was arrested by the NKVD; during a search of his home, according to the protocol, pornographic photographs, Trotskyist literature and a rubber dildo were found. Due to “anti-state” activities, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks expelled Yagoda from the party. The new head of the NKVD was appointed Nikolai Yezhov.

In 1937, the NKVD “troikas” appeared. A commission of three people handed down thousands of sentences in absentia to “enemies of the people”, based on materials from the authorities, and sometimes simply from lists. A feature of this process was the absence of protocols and the minimum number of documents on the basis of which a decision was made on the guilt of the defendant. The troika's verdict was not subject to appeal.

During the year of work by the troikas, 767,397 people were convicted, of which 386,798 people were sentenced to death. The victims most often were kulaks - wealthy peasants who did not want to voluntarily give up their property to the collective farm.

On April 10, 1939, Yezhov was arrested in his office Georgy Malenkov. Subsequently, the former head of the NKVD admitted to homosexual orientation and preparing a coup. Became the third People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrenty Beria.

NKGB - MGB (1943-1954)

On February 3, 1941, the NKVD was divided into two people's commissariats - the People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) and the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).

This was done with the aim of improving the intelligence and operational work of state security agencies and distributing the increased volume of work of the NKVD of the USSR.

The NKGB was assigned the following tasks:

conducting intelligence work abroad;
the fight against subversive, espionage, and terrorist activities of foreign intelligence services within the USSR;
prompt development and elimination of the remnants of anti-Soviet parties and counter-revolutionary formations among various layers of the population of the USSR, in the system of industry, transport, communications, and agriculture;
protection of party and government leaders.

The NKVD was entrusted with the tasks of ensuring state security. Military and prison units, police, and fire protection remained under the jurisdiction of this department.

On July 4, 1941, in connection with the outbreak of war, it was decided to merge the NKGB and NKVD into one department in order to reduce bureaucracy.

The re-creation of the NKGB of the USSR took place in April 1943. The main task of the committee was reconnaissance and sabotage activities behind German lines. As we moved west, the importance of work in the countries of Eastern Europe increased, where the NKGB was engaged in the “liquidation of anti-Soviet elements.”

In 1946, all people's commissariats were renamed into ministries, and accordingly, the NKGB became the USSR Ministry of State Security. At the same time he became the Minister of State Security Victor Abakumov. With his arrival, the transition of the functions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the jurisdiction of the MGB began. In 1947-1952, internal troops, police, border troops and other units were transferred to the department (camp and construction departments, fire protection, escort troops, and courier communications remained within the Ministry of Internal Affairs).

After death Stalin in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev shifted Beria and organized a campaign against illegal repression by the NKVD. Subsequently, several thousand of those unjustly convicted were rehabilitated.

KGB (1954-1991)

On March 13, 1954, the State Security Committee (KGB) was created by separating departments, services and departments related to state security issues from the MGB. Compared to its predecessors, the new body had a lower status: it was not a ministry within the government, but a committee under the government. The KGB chairman was a member of the CPSU Central Committee, but he was not a member of the highest authority - the Politburo. This was explained by the fact that the party elite wanted to protect themselves from the emergence of a new Beria - a man capable of removing her from power in order to implement his own political projects.

The area of responsibility of the new body included: foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, operational-search activities, protecting the state border of the USSR, protecting the leaders of the CPSU and the government, organizing and ensuring government communications, as well as the fight against nationalism, dissent, crime and anti-Soviet activities.

Almost immediately after its formation, the KGB carried out a large-scale staff reduction in connection with the beginning of the process of de-Stalinization of society and the state. From 1953 to 1955, state security agencies were reduced by 52%.

In the 1970s, the KGB intensified its fight against dissent and the dissident movement. However, the department's actions have become more subtle and disguised. Such means of psychological pressure as surveillance, public condemnation, undermining a professional career, preventive conversations, forced travel abroad, forced confinement in psychiatric clinics, political trials, slander, lies and compromising evidence, various provocations and intimidation were actively used. At the same time, there were also lists of “those not allowed to travel abroad”—those who were denied permission to travel abroad.

A new “invention” of the special services was the so-called “exile beyond the 101st kilometer”: politically unreliable citizens were evicted outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Under the close attention of the KGB during this period were primarily representatives of the creative intelligentsia - figures of literature, art and science - who, due to their social status and international authority, could cause the most widespread damage to the reputation of the Soviet state and the Communist Party.

In the 90s, changes in society and the public administration system of the USSR, caused by the processes of perestroika and glasnost, led to the need to revise the foundations and principles of the activities of state security agencies.

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 August to November 1991 - V. V. Bakatin.

December 3, 1991 President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev signed the law “On the reorganization of state security bodies.” Based on the document, 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.

FSB

After the abolition of the KGB, the process of creating new state security bodies took about three years. During this time, the departments of the disbanded committee moved from one department to another.

December 21, 1993 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the creation of the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation (FSK). The director of the new body from December 1993 to March 1994 was Nikolay Golushko, and from March 1994 to June 1995 this post was held by Sergey Stepashin.

Currently, the FSB cooperates with 142 intelligence services, law enforcement agencies and border structures of 86 states. Offices of official representatives of the Service bodies operate in 45 countries.

In general, the activities of the FSB bodies are carried out in the following main areas:

counterintelligence activities;
fight against terrorism;
protection of the constitutional order;
combating particularly dangerous forms of crime;
intelligence activities;
border activities;
ensuring information security; fight against corruption.

The FSB was headed by:

in 1995-1996 M. I. Barsukov;

in 1996-1998 N. D. Kovalev;

in 1998-1999 V.V. Putin;

in 1999-2008 N. P. Patrushev;

since May 2008 - A. V. Bortnikov.

Structure of the FSB of Russia:

Office of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee;
Counterintelligence Service;
Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and Combating Terrorism;
Economic Security Service;
Service of operational information and international relations;
Organizational and HR Service;
Operations Support Service;
Border Service;
Scientific and technical service;
Control Service;
Investigation Department;
Centers, management;
directorates (departments) of the FSB of Russia for individual regions and constituent entities of the Russian Federation (territorial security agencies);
border departments (departments, detachments) of the FSB of Russia (border authorities);
other directorates (departments) of the FSB of Russia that exercise certain powers of this body or ensure the activities of FSB bodies (other security agencies);
aviation, railway, motor transport units, special training centers, special purpose units, enterprises, educational institutions, research, expert, forensic, military medical and military construction units, sanatoriums and other institutions and units designed to support activities Federal Security Service.

1 Main Directorate (intelligence), 2 Main Directorate (counterintelligence), 3 Main Directorate (military counterintelligence), 4 Directorate (anti-Soviet underground, nationalist formations and hostile elements)...

February 1954 - Decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee of February 8, 1954 on the separation of state security agencies from the Ministry of Internal Affairs
March 1954 - Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council of March 13, 1954 on the formation of the KGB under the USSR Council of Ministers

The main tasks of the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1954):

"a) conducting intelligence work in capitalist countries;

b) the fight against espionage, sabotage, terrorism and other subversive activities of foreign intelligence services within the USSR;

c) the fight against enemy activities of all kinds of anti-Soviet elements within the USSR;

d) counterintelligence work in the Soviet Army and Navy;

e) organization of encryption and decryption business in the country;

f) protection of party and government leaders"

KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (March 1954):

1 Main Directorate (intelligence), 2 Main Directorate (counterintelligence), 3 Main Directorate (military counterintelligence), 4 Directorate (anti-Soviet underground, nationalist formations and hostile elements), 5 Directorate (counterintelligence at particularly important government facilities), 6 Directorate (counterintelligence in transport), 7 directorate (surveillance), 8 Main directorate (cryptography), 9 directorate (protection of party and government leaders), 10 (Department of the Commandant of the Moscow Kremlin), Personnel Directorate, Investigation Department, 1 special department (counterintelligence in the nuclear industry) , 2 special department (use of operational equipment), 3 special department (documents), 4 special department (radio counterintelligence), 5 special department (production of operational equipment), department " WITH"(government communications), Accounting and Archives Department (AAD), Prison Department, Economic Management, Financial Planning Department, Accounting, Mobilization Department, Department of Educational Institutions, Secretariat, Inspection.

"Regulations on the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR"approved by the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on December 23, 1958 and introduced by the Resolution of the USSR Council of Ministers of December 23, 1958. Functions of the KGB:

"a) intelligence work in capitalist countries;

b) the fight against espionage, sabotage, terrorism and other subversive activities;

c) combating the hostile activities of anti-Soviet and nationalist elements;

d) counterintelligence work in the SA, Navy, Civil Air Fleet, in the PV and the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;

e) counterintelligence work at special facilities, especially important industrial facilities and transport;

f) protection of state borders;

g) protection of party and government leaders;

h) organization and provision of government communications;

i) organization of radio counterintelligence work"

KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (March 1960):

1 Main Directorate, 2 Main Directorate, 3 Directorate, 7 Directorate, 8 Main Directorate, 9 Directorate, Operational and Technical Directorate (OTU), Personnel Directorate, Investigation Department, Accounting and Archives Department (UAO), Main Directorate of Border Troops (GUPV) , Economic Administration (HOZU), Government Communications Department (GCC), Financial Planning Department, Mobilization Department, Secretariat, Group under the Chairman

KGB under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (December 1967):

1 Main Directorate, 2 Main Directorate, 3 Directorate, 5 Directorate, 7 Directorate, 8 Main Directorate, 9 Directorate, Operational and Technical Directorate (OTU), Personnel Directorate, Investigation Department, 10 Department (accounting and archiving), 11 Department, 12 Department (hearing control of premises and telephones), Main Directorate of Border Troops (GUPV), Economic Department (HOZU), Government Communications Department (GCC), Financial and Planning Department, Mobilization Department, Secretariat, Inspectorate under the Chairman, Group of Consultants under the Chairman

The structure of the KGB, given by Gordievsky:

CHAPTERS

First (reconnaissance)
Second (internal security and counterintelligence)
Border troops
Eighth (communications and encryption service)

MANAGEMENT

Third (military counterintelligence)
Fifth (political, ideological issues)
Sixth (economic counterintelligence and industrial security)
Seventh (surveillance)
Ninth Directorate (Government Security)
Operational and technical (OTU)
Fifteenth (security of state facilities)
Sixteenth (radio interception and electronic intelligence)
Construction of military facilities

DEPARTMENTS AND SERVICES

investigation Department
Government Communications
KGB Higher School
Sixth department (interception and clarification of correspondence)
Twelfth Department (audition)

Structure of the First Main Directorate of the KGB - foreign intelligence ()

MANAGEMENT AND SERVICES

Management R (operational planning and analysis)
Directorate K (counterintelligence)
Directorate C (illegals)
Directorate T (scientific and technical intelligence)
Directorate of Intelligence Information (Analysis and Assessment)
Department of the Republic of Tatarstan (operations on the territory of the USSR)
Labor protection management (operational and technical)
Management I (computer service)
Service A (disinformation, covert operations)
Service R (radio communications)
Service A of the Eighth Main Directorate of the KGB PGU (encryption services)
Electronic intelligence - RP direction

Chairmen of the KGB

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov (October 1988 - August 1991)
Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov (December 1982 - October 1988)
Vitaly Vasilievich Fedorchuk (May - December 1982)
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (May 1967 - May 1982)

On Monday, Kommersant, citing sources in law enforcement agencies, reported on an upcoming reform, which involves the creation of the MGB on the basis of the FSB, FSO and SVR. At the same time, the MGB, as the publication argued, may be able to take on the most high-profile cases or exercise control over investigations carried out by other intelligence agencies. According to the plan of the developers of the reform, the publication claims, the creation of the MGB would allow for more efficient management of law enforcement agencies and would help fight corruption in these departments.

Later, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov did not confirm information about the creation of the MGB on the basis of the FSB, FSO and SVR. “No, I can’t,” answered the Kremlin representative when asked by journalists to confirm the data provided. Federal News Agency offers its readers a brief excursion into the history of the issue.

Cheka

Soviet intelligence services began with the famous Cheka- The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, the “Chrekayka”, which is why security officers are still sometimes called security officers.

The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR was created in December 1917 as an organ of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” to combat counter-revolution. The Cheka was headed by one of his closest associates Lenin - Felix Dzerzhinsky.

After the end of the Civil War, the abolition of so-called “war communism” and the transition to the “new economic policy” ( NEP), the Cheka was reorganized into the GPU (State Political Administration), and then - after the formation of the USSR - all republican GPUs became part of the OGPU (United State Political Administration).

NKVD

In the early 1930s, the OGPU was reorganized into the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR ( NKVD). The NKVD of the USSR was created in 1934 as the central agency for combating crime, maintaining public order and ensuring state security.

The mass repressions of the 1930s are associated with the activities of the NKVD. Many repressed people - both those who were shot, those sentenced to prison, or those who ended up in the Gulag - were convicted out of court by special troikas of the NKVD. In addition, the NKVD troops carried out deportations based on nationality. Many NKVD employees, including those from the top leadership of this body, themselves became victims of repression.

During Great Patriotic War Border and internal troops of the NKVD were used to protect the territory and search for deserters, and also directly participated in hostilities. After death Stalin hundreds of thousands of illegally repressed people were rehabilitated.

MGB

For the first time, the People's Commissariat (Ministry) of State Security of the USSR was formed shortly before the Great Patriotic War - on February 3, 1941 - by dividing the NKVD of the USSR into two people's commissariats: the NKGB of the USSR and the NKVD of the USSR. However, at the beginning of the war, these departments were again merged into a single body - the NKVD of the USSR.

In 1946, people's commissariats at all levels were transformed into ministries of the same name - this is how the NKVD of the USSR turned into the MGB of the USSR.

In May 1946, the head of Smersh became the Minister of State Security. Victor Abakumov. Under Abakumov, the transfer of the functions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the MGB began. In 1947-1952, internal troops, police, border troops and other units were transferred from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the MGB.

However, Avakumov did not see the reorganization of his brainchild - on July 12, 1951, he was arrested and accused of treason, and after Stalin’s death he was shot.

On the day of Stalin’s death, March 5, 1953, at a joint meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a decision was made to unite the MGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR under the leadership of Lavrentiy Beria, who, however, did not stay in this post for long and was also shot.

Subsequently, in the spring of 1954, state security bodies were removed from the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (KGB) was formed.

KGB

The CCCP State Security Committee existed from 1954 to 1991. Its main functions were foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of the state border and party and state leaders, organizing and ensuring government communications, as well as the fight against nationalism, dissent, crime and anti-Soviet activities.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state security organs underwent several reorganizations, of which the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation was organized for a short period of time.

FSB

And in December 1993, the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the abolition of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation and the creation of the Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation (FSK Russia), which was then transformed into the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation ( FSB of Russia).

The FSB, along with the SVR, FSVNG, FSO, GFS, FSTEC and the Special Objects Service under the President, belongs to the special services. The FSB has the right to conduct preliminary investigations and inquiries, operational search and intelligence activities. The director of the FSB since 2008 is Alexander Bortnikov, who reports directly to the President of the Russian Federation.

The KGB of the USSR is the strongest body that controlled state security during the Cold War. The influence of this institution in the USSR was so great that almost the entire population of the state feared it. Few people know that the KGB of the USSR operated in the security system.

History of the creation of the KGB

The USSR state security system was created already in the 1920s. As you know, this machine almost immediately began working in full mode. It is enough to recall only the repressions that were carried out in the USSR in the 30s of the 20th century.

All this time, until 1954, state security bodies existed within the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Of course, organizationally this was absolutely wrong. In 1954, two decisions were made by the highest authorities concerning the state security system. On February 8, by decree of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, security agencies were removed from the subordination of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Already on March 13, 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, by its decree, created the USSR State Security Committee. In this form, this body existed right up until the collapse of the USSR.

KGB leaders

Over the years, the organ was led by Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov, Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk.

Functions of the KGB

The general essence of the activities of this body is clear, but not all the tasks of the security agencies that they performed in the system of the totalitarian regime for many years are known to a wide range of the population. Therefore, we will outline the main range of functions of the KGB:

the most important task was considered to be the organization of intelligence activities in capitalist countries;
fight against spies from foreign intelligence agencies on the territory of the USSR;
work to counter possible leakage of data that is important to the state in all areas of activity;
protection of state facilities, borders and major political figures;
ensuring the smooth operation of the state apparatus.

Directorates of the KGB of the USSR

The State Security Committee had a complex structure, consisting of headquarters, directorates and departments. I would like to dwell on the KGB departments. So, there were 9 divisions:

The Third Directorate was responsible for military counterintelligence. In those years, the relevance of management tasks was enormous due to the active arms race between the USSR and the USA. Although war was not officially declared, the threat of the systems conflict going from “cold” to “hot” was constant.
The fifth division was responsible for political and ideological issues. Ensuring ideological security and the non-penetration of ideas “hostile” to communism among the masses is the main task of this structure.
The Sixth Directorate was responsible for maintaining state security in the economic sphere.
The seventh performed a specific task. When suspicions of serious misconduct fell on a certain person, surveillance could be placed on him.
The ninth division protected the personal safety of members of the government, the highest party leadership.
Operations and technical department. During the years of scientific and technological revolution, technology was constantly developing, so the security of the state could be reliably protected only with good technical equipment of the relevant bodies.
The tasks of the fifteenth department included the protection of government buildings and strategically important objects.
The sixteenth division was engaged in electronic intelligence. It was created already in the last period of the existence of the USSR in connection with the development of computer technology.
Construction department for the needs of the Ministry of Defense.

Departments of the KGB of the USSR

Departments are smaller, but no less important structures of the Committee. From the time of its creation until the dissolution of the KGB of the USSR, there were 5 departments. Let's talk about them in more detail.

The investigative department was involved in the investigation of crimes of a criminal or economic nature aimed at violating the security of the state. In the context of confrontation with the capitalist world, it was important to ensure absolute secrecy of government communications. This was done by a special unit.

The KGB had to employ qualified employees who had undergone special training. This is precisely why the KGB Higher School was created.

In addition, special departments were created to organize wiretapping of telephone conversations, as well as in premises; to intercept and process suspicious correspondence. Of course, not all conversations were listened to and not all letters were read, but only when suspicions arose regarding a citizen or group of people.

Separately, there were special border troops (PV KGB of the USSR), which were engaged in protecting the state border.