From the "thousand best servants" of Ivan the Terrible to the Separate Corps of Gendarmes and Security Departments of the Russian Empire
The beginning of the last decade of December for almost a century has been and remains festive for all employees of the state security agencies of Russia. In 1995, on December 20, the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing a professional holiday - the Day of the employee of the security agencies of the Russian Federation. But long before this official step, the Day of the Chekist, as it was called and called by almost everyone who celebrates this date, was unofficially celebrated in all relevant units.
Formally, the Day of the Security Service Worker is tied to the date of the creation of the first Soviet special service - the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) for combating counter-revolution and sabotage under the SNK of the RSFSR. The decree on its creation was just issued by the Council of People's Commissars on December 20, 1917. Since then, this date has become at first informal, and for the last two decades - an official holiday. The holiday, which is celebrated not only by FSB employees, but also by those who came from its predecessor - the KGB of the USSR: employees of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Federal Security Service, the Main Directorate of Special Programs and others.
But one cannot seriously believe that before the appearance of the Cheka in Russia, there were no state security bodies! Of course, there were - and the Chekists, no matter what the Bolsheviks said about the need to "destroy the whole world of violence," did not begin their work from scratch. Moreover: the continuity of the Soviet special services in relation to the Russian was clearly emphasized from the very first day! After all, the location of the Cheka in Petrograd was house 2 on Gorokhovaya Street - that is, the same house in which until March 4, 1917 the St. Petersburg Department for the Protection of Public Safety and Order was housed. Yes, the same Security Department, which the revolutionaries contemptuously called the "secret police", but which at the same time they feared like plague …
"A Thousand Best Servants" on the Guard of the Muscovy
As soon as a state arises, the need immediately arises to take care of its security. This axiom was well understood even in the era of antiquity, and over time it found more and more confirmation. Accordingly, the more complex the state structure of the country was, the more complex the system of its security organs became. The idea of several special services, which allow the head of state to receive more complete and objective information due to their competition, was born far from the twentieth century, but much earlier!
As for Russia, the famous "thousand best servants" can be considered the prototype of the domestic state security organs, the decree on the creation of which Ivan IV the Terrible signed in October 1550. In another way, this unit was called the "Tsar and Grand Duke Regiment" and consisted of 1,078 boyar children. Simultaneously with this regiment, a special rifle regiment was created in Moscow to protect the first Russian tsar. It was these regiments that became the first formal state security structures, since they were engaged not so much in military threats to the Muscovite kingdom, but in identifying and eliminating internal threats.
When Ivan the Terrible finally turned into an autocratic ruler, the oprichniks came to replace "a thousand of the best servants", many of whom managed to defect to the side of the enemy, fearing the tsarist wrath. But not only they were responsible for the security of Russia: some of the functions of the state security organs were entrusted to the orders created by the tsar. For example, the Discharge Order dealt with the consideration of "thieves" and "robbery" cases (unlike the current definitions of these crimes, in the 16th century, thieves and robbers were more likely to go through the state security department), and Accountant was responsible for the fight against embezzlement from the treasury.
Alas, the oprichnina, unrestricted in its powers, subordinate only to Ivan IV, could not effectively perform the functions of a state security body. Therefore, the tragic, ambiguous, but very important for the formation of Russia, the era of Grozny was replaced by the notorious Time of Troubles, and only the accession to the Russian throne of the future Emperor Peter I returned the country to a normal path of development. Under him, the first real state security organs appeared in Russia.
Special services of the nest of Petrov
In the inheritance from his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the future first Russian emperor inherited the Order of Secret Affairs, created in 1653 - according to historians, the first truly special service in the country dealing with state security. But the far-sighted Tsar Peter from the very beginning made it so that under him several such services were responsible for state security. In particular, the Collegium of Foreign Affairs was in charge of everything that concerned the activities of foreigners and the departure of Russians abroad. She, as you might guess, had a chance to engage in both perlustration of letters and supervision of the "Germans", many of whom could turn out to be foreign spies - and in reality they were, because then such an occupation was not considered something shameful at all. And two structures were directly involved in the internal security of the state under Peter: the Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Secret Chancellery.
The Preobrazhensky Prikaz arose in 1686 and was originally involved in the management of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. Only after 1702, the tsar charged this order with the conduct of cases about "the word and deed of the sovereign", that is, about crimes against state power. Therefore, the Preobrazhensky order was subordinated directly to Peter I, and the famous prince-Caesar Fyodor Romodanovsky supervised it.
The tsar also entrusted him with the Secret Chancellery, created in February 1718 in St. Petersburg, which initially dealt with one and only case: the investigation of the high treason of Tsarevich Alexei. A little later, other political affairs of special importance were transferred from the Preobrazhensky Prikaz to the jurisdiction of this chancellery, located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. And soon Peter, having decided that it was already difficult for him to manage and direct the activities of two special services at the same time, united the order and the office under one roof - the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, renamed into the Preobrazhenskaya Chancery after the accession of Catherine I.
Its successor was the Secret Chancellery, created in 1731 on the ruins of the Secret Chancellery - Peter II eliminated the secret service, distributing its duties between the Supreme Privy Council and the Senate - the Chancellery of Secret and Investigative Affairs. She was charged with the responsibility to conduct operational development and investigation of cases of malicious intent against the sovereign and his family and against the state itself as such (the case of "riot and treason"). The Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs existed until 1762, until it was abolished by the manifesto of Peter III. Instead, the emperor ordered the creation of a new secret service under the Senate in charge of state security - the famous Secret Expedition.
Mystery as the main weapon
The new special service, which was initially called the Special Chancellery and changed its name already under Catherine II, inherited the functions of not only ensuring the internal security of the state, but also counterintelligence. Moreover, for the first time in Russian practice, the Secret Expedition introduced the practice of identifying foreign agents with the help of its own foreign employees. It was with their help that the forwarders - and this is how the employees of the new service began to be called - received information about both spies and those who were recruited by them in Russia.
But nevertheless, the main task of the Secret Expedition was precisely the internal security of the country. At that time, this meant uprisings and conspiracies against the government, treason and espionage, imposture, criticism of government policies and actions of the tsar, members of the tsar's family or representatives of the tsarist administration, as well as acts damaging the prestige of tsarist power. Among the many cases that the Forwarders of the Secret Chancellery happened to conduct, there were also such high-profile cases as the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev and the activities of Alexander Radishchev - the author of the famous "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", the case of the freemason-journalist Nikolai Novikov and the impostor Princess Tarakanova, as well as the investigation into the case of the Secretary of the College of Foreign Affairs, Court Councilor Valva, accused of espionage.
It is noteworthy that most of these cases were supervised, or even directly led their investigation by the most, perhaps, the famous head of the Secret Expedition - its chief secretary Stepan Sheshkovsky. Under him, as his contemporaries described it, the forwarders of the office "knew everything that was happening in the capital: not only criminal plans or actions, but even free and careless conversations." And his fame as the head of the Secret Chancellery was so wide and odious that, as eyewitnesses said, when Alexander Radishchev was told that Sheshkovsky would personally take care of his business, the writer literally fainted.
It is curious that Catherine II understood very well how such a veil of fear and mystery affects the performance of such state security services. It is no coincidence that only 2,000 rubles a year were officially allocated for the maintenance of the Secret Chancellery, which were spent on paying salaries to forwarders, and the real costs of the office's work and the instructions it received from the Senate and directly from the Empress were kept in the strictest confidence. This was largely facilitated by the location of the headquarters of the special services - in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which for a long time became a symbol of political repression in the country.
The third branch as a result of the Decembrist uprising
The secret office existed until 1801, after which it was liquidated by the order of the new emperor Alexander I. In 1807, a Special Committee was created in its place, which was sometimes also called the General Security Committee, and a Special Chancellery that worked in parallel with it. First existing under the Ministry of Police, and then under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this chancellery did, in fact, the same thing as its predecessor, except that it did not cause such an irrational fear in society - and acted less decisively. As a result, she missed the preparation of the Decembrist uprising in 1825, after which Emperor Nicholas I ascended the throne.
The new autocrat immediately appreciated the advantages that the effective state security service gives the authorities. And soon a truly active special service appeared in Russia: on July 3 (old style), 1826, the Special Chancellery of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was transformed into the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery. The head of the new service was Adjutant General Alexander Benckendorff, who ten days earlier had been entrusted by the emperor with the post of chief of gendarmes with the reassignment of the newly created Separate Corps of Gendarmes to him.
This is how the first real state security service appeared in Russia, possessing all the modern attributes of such a structure. She was in charge of such questions as “all orders and news on all cases in general by the highest Police; information about the number of different sects and schisms existing in the state; news of discoveries on counterfeit banknotes, coins, stamps, documents, etc., whose search and further production remain in the dependence of the ministries: finance and internal affairs; detailed information about all people under the supervision of the police, as well as all the subjects of the order; deportation and placement of suspicious and harmful people; supervisory and economic management of all places of detention, in which state criminals are imprisoned; all decrees and orders about foreigners living in Russia, arriving and leaving the state; statements about all incidents without exception; statistical information related to the police”. As you can see, the scope of duties of the Third Section, together with the Separate Corps of Gendarmes, practically covers all the cases that the Federal Security Service is currently dealing with.
From the Security Department - to the Cheka
In this form, the Third Section, conceived as a structure that would not only protect the state from internal dangers, but also help it free itself from bribe-takers and embezzlers - and such criminals were already considered a threat to state security! - existed until 1880. Alas, it did not achieve these goals, and therefore, during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, it was reassigned to the newly created Supreme Administrative Commission for the maintenance of state order and public peace. When, six months later, this commission also ceased to exist, the Third Section was finally disbanded. In its place, the 3rd office work of the State Police Department (later simply the police) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia arose.
The successor to the Third Section, who even retained its number, until 1898 was called the "secret office work of the Police Department" and was engaged in political search (that is, the supervision of political organizations and parties and the fight against them, as well as the mass movement), and also directed all In this process, the internal and foreign agents and was in charge of the protection of the emperor and high dignitaries. Actually, the main tools of the Third office work were the security departments - the same secret police.
Interestingly, the security departments themselves arose much earlier than the structure to which they were ultimately subordinated. The first such department appeared in St. Petersburg in 1866 after the first attempt on the life of Emperor Alexander II. It was called the Department for the production of cases for the maintenance of public order and peace in St. Petersburg. The second in November 1880 was the Moscow security department, and the third - the Warsaw one.
In December 1907, there were 27 security departments throughout Russia - and this was the peak figure. After the revolutionary activity of 1905-1907 gradually faded away, and the revolutionaries preferred to organize the working class to fight from outside the country (since then it has generally become a tradition of the domestic opposition - it is safer and, most importantly, more comfortable), their the number began to decline again, and by 1917 there were only three Security Departments left in Russia: the same Warsaw, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The location of the latter was exactly the same house 2 on Gorokhovaya Street, where on December 20, 1917, the first Soviet special service for ensuring state security, the famous Cheka, settled.
Chronology of the state security agencies of the USSR and the Russian Federation
December 20, 1917
By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) was formed under the SNK of the RSFSR to combat counter-revolution and sabotage in Soviet Russia. Felix Dzerzhinsky was appointed its first chairman.
February 6, 1922
Read under the heading "History"
"And there was a great battle and a wicked one …" On December 22, 1317, the Battle of Bortenev took place.
The Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution on the abolition of the Cheka and the formation of the State Political Administration (GPU) under the NKVD of the RSFSR.
November 2, 1923
The Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR created the United State Political Administration (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
July 10, 1934
In accordance with the decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, the state security organs entered the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of the USSR under the name of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB).
February 3, 1941
The NKVD of the USSR is divided into two independent bodies: the NKVD of the USSR and the People's Commissariat of State Security (NKGB) of the USSR.
July 20, 1941
The NKGB of the USSR and the NKVD of the USSR were again united into a single People's Commissariat - the NKVD of the USSR.
April 14, 1943
The People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR was re-formed.
March 15, 1946
The NKGB was transformed into the Ministry of State Security.
March 5, 1953
A decision was made to merge the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security into a single Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
March 13, 1954
The State Security Committee was created under the USSR Council of Ministers.
May 6, 1991
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Boris Yeltsin and Chairman of the KGB of the USSR Vladimir Kryuchkov signed a protocol on the formation in accordance with the decision of the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia of the State Security Committee of the RSFSR.
November 26, 1991
The first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the transformation of the KGB of the RSFSR into the Federal Security Agency of the RSFSR.
December 3, 1991
USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the law "On the reorganization of the state security organs." On the basis of this law, the KGB of the USSR was abolished, and on its basis, for a transitional period, the Inter-Republican Security Service (SMB) and the Central Intelligence Service of the USSR (now the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation) were created.
January 24, 1992
Boris Yeltsin signed a decree on the formation of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation on the basis of the abolished AFB of the RSFSR and SME.
December 21, 1993
Boris Yeltsin signed a decree abolishing the RF MB and creating the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) of the Russian Federation.
April 3, 1995
Boris Yeltsin signed the Law "On the Bodies of the Federal Security Service in the Russian Federation", on the basis of which the FSB is the legal successor of the FSK.
