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People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation(set)
Position
Citizenship
Background
Era
People of the Soviet Union
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Semyon Denisovich Ignatiev Семён Денисович Игнатьев
The last MGB minister of Stalin’s final years
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1904–1983
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Vasily Stepanovich Ryasnoy Василий Степанович Рясной
NKVD chief who directed the suppression of Ukraine's nationalist insurgency
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1904–1995
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Zalman Isaevich Passov Зельман Исаевич Пассов
Foreign intelligence chief who led the Polish Operation mass arrests
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1940
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Viktor Grigorievich Nasedkin Виктор Григорьевич Наседкин
The camp empire's administrator who ran the GULAG through the Great Patriotic War
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1950
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Lev Yemelyanovich Vlodzimirsky Лев Емельянович Влодзимирский
Head of the unit for especially important cases
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1953
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Anatoly Alexandrovich Esaulov Анатолий Александрович Эсаулов
The interrogator of Yezhov: the hand that kept the record as the machine devoured its own master
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1954
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Konstantin Sergeyevich Savitsky Константин Сергеевич Савицкий
Kobulov's personal secretary, condemned in 1955
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1955
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Nikolai Maksimovich Rukhadze Николай Максимович Рухадзе
He drove the Mingrelian affair and then fell himself
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1955
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Boris Rodos Борис Вениаминович Родос
The Great Purge's chief interrogator: NKVD Investigation Deputy Chief who broke Politburo members, generals, and writers
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1956
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Aleksandr Semyonovich Panyushkin Александр Семёнович Панюшкин
Soviet foreign intelligence chief who directed operations under ambassadorial cover in China and the United States
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1974
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Ivan Alexandrovich Serov Иван Александрович Серов
The first chairman of the KGB
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1990
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Leonid Romanovich Kvasnikov Леонид Романович Квасников
The scientist-spy who stole the atomic bomb
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1905–1993
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Alexander Samoylovich Khazan Александр Самойлович Хазан
Released in 1938, shot in 1955
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1906–1955
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Amayak Zakharovich Kobulov Амаяк Захарович Кобулов
The Berlin rezident who piped Nazi disinformation to Moscow
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1906–1955
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Nikolai Pavlovich Dudorov Николай Павлович Дудоров
Khrushchev's civilian interior minister who tried and failed to dismantle the informant system
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1906–1977
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Lev Leonidovich (Aronovich) Shvartsman Лев Леонидович (Аронович) Шварцман
MGB's most brutal interrogator, killer of Blyukher, Babel, and Meyerhold
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1955
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Vladimir Nikolaevich Sukhodolsky Владимир Николаевич Суходольский
NKVD major-general who led Tula's wartime defence and fell from grace
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1966
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Pavel Mikhailovich Fitin Павел Михайлович Фитин
The man who rebuilt foreign intelligence from the wreckage of the Yezhovshchina and stole the atomic bomb
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1971
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Sergey Nikiforovich Kruglov Сергей Никифорович Круглов
The last NKVD People's Commissar, the longest-serving MVD minister, killed by a train
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1977
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Konstantin Fyodorovich Lunev Константин Фёдорович Лунёв
A party cadre elevated into the security apparatus
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1980
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Alexander Ivanovich Langfang Александр Иванович Лангфанг
An interrogator convicted of falsifying cases and torturing prisoners
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1990
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Georgy Karpovich Tsinev Георгий Карпович Цинёв
Brezhnev's other pair of eyes inside the KGB
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1996
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Pavel Anatolyevich Sudoplatov Павел Анатольевич Судоплатов
Stalin’s spymaster who eliminated Trotsky, then spent fifteen years in Stalin’s prisons
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1907–1996
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Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov Виктор Семёнович Абакумов
Stalin's security chief who commanded SMERSH and ruled the MGB
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1908–1954
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Aleksandr Mikhailovich Sakharovsky Александр Михайлович Сахаровский
State-security officer who led Soviet foreign intelligence for 15 years
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1909–1983
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Pyotr Ivanovich Ivashutin Пётр Иванович Ивашутин
The KGB man who led the GRU for 24 years: Soviet military intelligence's longest-serving chief
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1909–2002
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Pavel Yakovlevich Meshik Павел Яковлевич Мешик
Beria's inner circle and an organiser of the Great Terror
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1910–1953
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Nikolai Anisimovich Shchelokov Николай Анисимович Щёлоков
Brezhnev's 16-year police chief who rebuilt the MVD into a modern force
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1910–1984
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Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov Николай Иванович Кузнецов
Soviet spy who posed as a German officer in Nazi-occupied Ukraine and personally eliminated high-ranking officials
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1911–1944
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Vasily Mikhailovich Vinevitin Василий Михайлович Виневитин
The NKVD sniper lieutenant who shot the Japanese gendarme on Frinovsky's order
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1913–1938
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Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin Михаил Дмитриевич Рюмин
Engineer of the Doctors' Plot, NKVD bookkeeper turned deputy minister
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1913–1954
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Nikita Arkadyevich Krimyan Никита Аркадьевич Кримян
The investigator who became Armenia's security minister at thirty-one
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1913–1955
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Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov Юрий Владимирович Андропов
The paradox: a reformer’s patron inside the KGB
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1914–1984
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Yevgeny Petrovich Pitovranov Евгений Петрович Питовранов
A survivor who transformed from Stalin's counter-intelligence chief to Brezhnev's trade diplomat
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1915–1999
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Vladimir Ivanovich Komarov Владимир Иванович Комаров
Abakumov's deputy interrogator who beat prisoners and fabricated protocols in the Leningrad Affair
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1916–1954
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Semyon Kuzmich Tsvigun Семён Кузьмич Цвигун
Brezhnev's watcher planted beside Andropov
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1917–1982
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Vadim Aleksandrovich Matrosov Вадим Александрович Матросов
The military axis of the KGB: 17 years commanding the border army
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1917–1999
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Fyodor Konstantinovich Mortin Фёдор Константинович Мортин
Sakharovsky's 13-year right hand and the short-lived PGU chief of early détente
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1918–1990
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Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin Александр Николаевич Шелепин
The Komsomol boss who took over the KGB
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1918–1994
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Ivan Kirillovich Yakovlev Иван Кириллович Яковлев
The MVD general who turned the Internal Troops into a mobile strike force and sealed Chernobyl
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1918–2002
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Grigory Fyodorovich Grigorenko Григорий Фёдорович Григоренко
Architect of Soviet counterintelligence for 40 years, from SMERSH radio games to chief of the KGB Second Chief Directorate
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1918–2007
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Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk Виталий Васильевич Федорчук
The brief KGB chairman after Andropov
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1918–2008
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Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky Олег Владимирович Пеньковский
The GRU colonel who fed the West over 5,000 classified documents on Soviet missile weakness, exposing Khrushchev's strategic bluff
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1919–1963
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Ivan Lavrentievich Ustinov Иван Лаврентьевич Устинов
Military counterintelligence chief of the Brezhnev era
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1920–2020
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Vadim Stepanovich Tikunov Вадим Степанович Тикунов
Shelepin-network RSFSR interior minister who led Khrushchev-era policing
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1921–1980
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Vadim Alekseyevich Kirpichenko Вадим Алексеевич Кирпиченко
KGB First Chief Directorate deputy who ran Soviet foreign intelligence for twelve years
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1922–2005
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Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov Виктор Михайлович Чебриков
KGB chairman from late stagnation into perestroika
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1923–1999
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Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny Владимир Ефимович Семичастный
The KGB chairman during Khrushchev’s fall
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1924–2001
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Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov Владимир Александрович Крючков
The KGB chairman who designed the August coup
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1924–2007
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Vladimir Petrovich Pirozhkov Владимир Петрович Пирожков
The KGB constant: 20 years as deputy chairman under four chiefs
Security, intelligence and policing · Soviet Union
1924–2009