KGB

The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield

Lavrenty Beria,Stalin's henchman

Yuri Andropov's identity card as Director of the KGB

KGBis the Russian-language abbreviation forState Security Committee.It was the main internal security agency for theSoviet Unionfrom 1954 until its break-up in 1991. It was formed in 1954 as a successor of earlier agencies, theCheka,NKVD,andMGB,after the deaths ofJoseph StalinandLavrentiy Beriain 1953.

During theCold War,the KGB suppressed "ideological subversion". This meant suppressing unorthodox political and religious ideas, and the people who held those ideas. It was Soviet policy for the KGB (and the secret services of thesatellite states) to monitor public and private opinion, internalsubversionand possible counter-revolutionary plots in theSoviet Bloc.

The KGB was instrumental in crushing theHungarian Revolution of 1956,and thePrague Springof "Socialism with a Human Face",in 1968Czechoslovakia.A record of some of its doings is contained in theMitrokin Archive.

Different stages

From 13 March 1954 to 6 November 1991, KGB was the main name for the mainSovietsecurity agency,intelligence agencyor spy agency, and thesecret police agency.

In March 1953,Lavrenty Beriamerged theMVDand theMGBinto one agency—the MVD. In December of that year, Beria and six associates were executed and the MVD split. The re-formed MVD retained its police and law enforcement powers, while the second, new agency, the KGB, did the internal and external security functions, and reported to theCouncil of Ministers.

On 5 July 1978 the KGB was renamed as the "KGB of theSoviet Union",with its chairman holding a ministerial council seat. The KGB ended when its chief, Colonel-GeneralVladimir Kryuchkov,used the KGB's resources to help the August 1991coupattempt to overthrow Soviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev.On 23 August 1991 Colonel-General Kryuchkov was arrested, and GeneralVadim Bakatinwas appointed KGB Chairman—and mandated to dissolve the KGB of the Soviet Union. On 6 November 1991, the KGB officially ceased to exist, although Russia's new national security organisation, the RussianFederalnaya sluzhba bezopasnosti(FSB), works in the same things that the Soviet KGB did.

Belarusis the only post-Soviet Union era country where the national security organization is still called "KGB". Belarus is whereFelix Dzerzhinskystarted a group called theCheka,which was an organization in theSoviet Unionbefore the MVD or the KGB was started.

Other websites

• KGB Infofrom FAS.org
• Chebrikov, Viktor M.,et al.,eds.Istoriya sovetskikh organov gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti.(1977)[1]
• Committee for State Security-Citizendium