KGB

KGB [Abbreviation for Russian K omitet G ossudarstvennoj B esopasnosti »Committee for State Security« according to AbbreviationFinder.org],from 1954 name of the Soviet secret service. The KGB, with its headquarters in Moscow (so-called “Lubyanka”), was called the “sword and shield of the party” v. a. to secure the rule of the CPSU in the USSR, took over the supervision and elimination of the internal opposition (dissidents), the protection of the state border (own heavily armed forces of about 300,000 men) and the control of the functionaries and state apparatus. In addition to foreign espionage (network of agents, filling important positions in diplomatic missions), he was also responsible for influencing developments in the former Eastern Bloc countries. After his significant involvement in the conservative attempted coup against President M. S. Gorbachev (August 1991) it was decided to dissolve the KGB in October 1991; However, it remained – now divided into three individual services (Inter-Republican Security Service, Central Reconnaissance Service, Border Guard Troops). With the collapse of the USSR (December 1991), the Russian government reorganized the domestic and foreign activities of the secret service (several restructuring and renaming). The »Foreign Reconnaissance Service« (Russian abbreviation SWR) took on the tasks of a civilian foreign intelligence service. After the “Ministry of Security” (Russian abbreviation MBR) was dissolved in December 1993, it was replaced by the “Federal Service for Counter-Enlightenment” (Russian abbreviation FSK); A law passed in 1995 gave the Federal Security Service (Russian abbreviation FSB), which has since been called the “Federal Security Service”, expanded powers. In 2003, as part of a restructuring and concentration of power by the security authorities, the border guard troops were subordinated to the FSB and, after the dissolution of the FAPSI service responsible for monitoring communications, its competencies were also transferred. (Cheka, GPU, NKVD)

Cheka

Cheka die, -, short for Russian Tschreswytschajnaja Komissija po borbe s kontr-revoljuziej, sabotaschem i spekuljaziej, German “Extraordinary Commission for the Fight against Counterrevolution, Sabotage and Speculation”, 1917-22 the political police of Soviet Russia, headed by F.; E. Dzerzhinsky As an instrument of “red terror”, it contributed to the consolidation of Bolshevik rule, especially during the civil war (including the establishment of concentration camps for “class enemies”, the shooting of thousands as early as 1918). Convertedto the GPU in1922.

GPU

GPU [abbreviation for Russian G ossudarstwennoje P olititscheskoje U prawlenije “State Political Administration”], 1922 from the Cheka emerged political police of the USSR, had the far-reaching powers of attorney and in 1923 as a GPU (short for Russian O bjedinennoje G ossudarstwennoje P olititscheskoje U prawlenije, German »United State Political Administration«) actually held the rank of People’s Commissariat (Ministry). The OGPU was responsible for the early show trials of 1928–33 and was a major instrument of Soviet state terror during the 1920s and first half of the 1930s (especially at the time of the forced collectivization of agriculture and the forced industrialization of the country); In 1930 a »Head Office of the (Criminal) Camps« (GULAG) was formed in its ranks. In 1934 the OGPU was incorporated into the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).

NKVD

NKVD [Russian abbreviation for N arodny K omissariat W nutrennych D el, “People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs”], in 1934 formed Soviet Union Department, the most important resort GPU was incorporated; responsible v. a. for political surveillance, intelligence, political criminal justice, administration of criminal and exile camps (GULAG); became the instrument of Stalinist terror at the time of the Great Chistka. 1941 briefly again in 1943 disentanglement of the political secret police as NKGB (abbreviation for N arodny K omissariat G ossudarstwennoj B esopasnosti, “People’s Commissariat for State Security”), which in 1946 with the counter-espionage department of the People’s Commissariat for Defense “Smersch” (“Death to Spies”) to the MGB (abbreviation for M inisterstwo G ossudarstwennoj B esopasnosti B esopasnostium for State Security “). In the same year, the NKVD was converted into the MWD (abbreviation for M inisterstwo W nutrennych D el, “Ministry of Internal Affairs”). The KGB emerged from the MGB in 1954.