“The Abbess of St. Michael’s Monastery restored it from ruins, now they want to take it away”
A month has passed since Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew notified Patriarch Kirill of granting Ukraine a tomos of autocephaly. Adherents of the "new Ukrainian course" triumph. After all, very soon the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be recognized as equal to 14 local Orthodox churches in the world. And most importantly, it will become independent from the ROC. Further events may develop tragically.
Let us clarify that the UOC refers to the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and several smaller structures that have joined them.
Based on what he heard from the "ordinary believers", the correspondent of "MK" made a number of conclusions for himself. For example, about the fact that those who are not ready to listen to services in the language of Taras Shevchenko, in the case of the transfer of “Moscow churches” into “Bandera hands”, will go ... to the Catacomb Church. Like, we are no strangers; this already happened in Stalin's and Khrushchev's godless times.
In this regard, the pro-Russian politician Vasily Volga cites the appeal of one priest, whom he respects very much, to his parishioners. This priest urges the Orthodox “to react in no way, except for prayer and fasting, to what awaits us all.” The unnamed priest, addressing "the SBU, nationalists, militants and local authorities," promises to voluntarily hand over the keys to the Temple of God and not interfere with its capture.
“Well, they will take the temples,” Mr. Volga continues. They will take over the monasteries. But they can't take away our faith. Who will forbid us to gather even at home, even in the open air, and who will forbid our priests to serve us the Liturgy? For the Lord said: “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.” Rejoice!
Meanwhile, the all-Ukrainian association "Svoboda", tirelessly declaring, they say, "Ukrainian nationalism is first of all love", on September 27 called on compatriots to sign a petition demanding to cancel the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine signed by Mykola Azarov in 2013 on transferring it to the Moscow Patriarchate for free use 79 buildings in the center of Kiev. All buildings are located on the territory of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. As soon as the document collects a sufficient number of signatures and is approved at the session of the Kyiv City Council (in which nationalists usually “push through” almost all their projects), the monks will be overcharged with unbearable sums so that they voluntarily cede the land and buildings that belonged to them for centuries and the buildings of the “correct church”.
Even more radical nationalist groups propose, without waiting for the decision of the Kyiv City Council on the abolition of benefits for the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, on October 14, on the day of the UPA (banned in the Russian Federation), after the completion of traditional events on Sofiyivska Square, move to storm the ancient monastery. And in front of the eyes of the entire civilized world, capture the Lavra.
Similar threats are heard against the inhabitants of the Pochaev Lavra, in connection with which hundreds of Ternopil residents have already shown their readiness to join the ranks of the defenders of the famous monastery, the stronghold of Russian Orthodoxy in Western Ukraine.
It should be recalled that the Ukrainian security forces have relatively fresh installation data on each of the likely defenders of the Pechersk and Pochaev Lavra. The databases were updated no later than July 27th.
On this day, from all regions of Ukraine, tens of thousands of believers of the UOC-MP annually arrive in Kyiv to participate in the procession on the occasion of the celebration of the Day of the Baptism of Kievan Rus. In 2018, as the participants of the mass procession from Volodymyrska Gorka to the Pechersk Lavra told the MK correspondent, not a single bus was allowed onto the highways in the direction of Kyiv without police escort. One or two officers, "attached" to each of the vehicles, first transcribed the personal data of each passenger, then - on the way to Kiev - they had preventive conversations with the Orthodox about ... the dangers of terrorism.
Believers from the regional center Narodichi were not allowed to leave at all! - told "MK" the wife of a priest from the Zhytomyr region. – Bus drivers were visited by some “poroshenko titushki” and promised, in case of disobedience, not only to puncture the wheels, but also to “beat off the heads”. Imagine: every single one of the believers made it to Kyiv with their own money - on a bed-chamber, on an electric train.
Similar "operational measures" were carried out, according to Archpriest of the Ovruch diocese Oleg Dominsky, with other carrier companies. In particular, the Ovruch believers were denied the provision of seats on buses ordered a month and a half before the Procession.
When we turned to the carriers, - says the father, Oleg, - we were hinted that special services were working with them on orders from "above"...
The archpriest from Ovruch is sure that the Ukrainian authorities decided to take such measures in order to “create a picture in which there will be visually more supporters of the Kyiv Patriarchate than supporters of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”
Actually, that's how it happened. Significantly more people came to the procession organized by the UOC-KP on July 28 than to the procession of the Moscow Patriarchate. .
Having acquired the passport details of the most active adherents of the UOC-MP, the security forces can now begin to "prevent" each of them separately. So that people do not try to put up resistance in the event of the forcible removal of an Orthodox church in favor of a single local church that does not yet exist even on paper.
Abbess Serafima, the abbess of the Odessa St. Michael's Convent, promised in the event of the forced expulsion of monastics from the Pechersk, Pochaev and Svyatogorsk Lavra, to commit an act of collective self-immolation. “Knowing the mood of each of us,” said mother, “I can promise: we ourselves will not leave, we will defend our shrines to the last breath, it will be possible to endure us only in coffins.”
Member of the Verkhovna Rada from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, Dmitry Golubov (known as the most implacable opponent of Mikheil Saakashvili, who worked as governor of the Odessa region), tried to turn what Mother Seraphim said into a joke. And even showed up at the nunnery for a selfie with her.
Most likely, the politician is not aware of how much effort was spent in the 90s on the restoration of St. Michael's Monastery.
The MK correspondent, who at that time worked in the regional newspaper Znamya Kommunizma (renamed Yug after the events of 1991), prepared passionate correspondence from Nadya Shevchik (such is the worldly name and surname of Mother Seraphim) about the need to invest in restoration Orthodox shrines, along with her went along and across the ruins of a monastery destroyed almost to the ground near the Black Sea. Due to the above circumstances, I perfectly understand and fully share the feelings of the abbess, who recreated the present Abode of Christ from the ruins.
Patriarch of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret (in the world Mikhail Denisenko), who insists on the transfer of the Kyiv and Pochaev Lavra to the new Local Church, is seriously counting on the post of its head. However, according to several sources in the Phanar, the Patriarchate of Constantinople does not even consider the granting of the tomos of autocephaly to Ukraine and, in the “package” with it, the appointment of Filaret to the highest position even as a hypothesis.
The same sentiments seem to be present in the Administration of the President of Ukraine.
Having become at the age of 37 (!) the Patriarchal Exarch of Ukraine, and 2 years later the youngest of the metropolitans of the Russian Orthodox Church, a native of the Amvrosievsky district of the Donetsk region is presented in the top leadership of the republic as a "hero of yesterday". And that is at best.
If in the 1990s and in the first half of the 2000s the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate did not have a solid "bench" and Kiev was forced to give away distant parishes to "priests-deletions" - priests of the Russian Orthodox Church banned from serving (among whom drunkards and homosexuals predominated) - now the staff "Filaret" has changed dramatically. The patriarch himself - a cavalier of the Soviet Orders of Friendship of Peoples and the Red Banner of Labor - cannot, according to the "tops", lead the Local Church also because of cooperation with the KGB of the USSR. In the early 1990s, the materials of the Commission to Investigate the Causes and Circumstances of the State Emergency Committee, which included the priest Gleb Yakunin, later a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 1st convocation, were published. At one of the press conferences at the Kiev UNIAN agency, Gleb Pavlovich, in the presence of an MK correspondent, confirmed the data of his work: the current ardent opponent of the FSB, Filaret, is listed in the reports of the Soviet secret agency as an informant under the operational pseudonym Antonov.
In response, Filaret recalled: they say that in the USSR not a single bishop was appointed without the consent of the KGB, and he did not have the right to appoint a priest to the parish without the approval of the KGB. To what extent the influence of the SBU will be seen in the new Local Church, one can only guess ...
It seems to many that now we know literally everything about the activities of the Soviet special services. On the Internet, it is easy to find lists of educational institutions where intelligence officers have been and continue to be trained; you can read about the specifics of undercover work in the memoirs of both those who retired on a well-deserved seniority and those who fled to the West. The feeling is that there are no more secrets left, if not books, then newspaper articles have been written about all aspects of the activities of domestic special services. But one page in the annals of the secret war will not open soon - the one that tells about the 13th department, which was engaged in sabotage and murder. The correspondent of Nasha Versiya tried to at least slightly open the veil lowered over the most secret division of Soviet intelligence.
Very little is known about the department that dealt with the liquidation of objectionable persons on the territory of the USSR and abroad. There is some information in the memoirs of KGB officers who fled to the West. A little more information was obtained thanks to the employees of the special services, who in the early 90s found themselves on the territory of the former Soviet republics, who began to talk in their old age. Many of these people felt left to fend for themselves and, no longer feeling obligated to keep the secrets of the Soviet era, shared them with journalists.
We will never know the whole truth: according to the decree of the President of Russia of January 14, 1992 “On the protection of state secrets of the Russian Federation”, all documentation relating to the activities of the “retribution department” is classified for 75 years. Our material is based on the author’s conversations with several former high-ranking KGB officers who, by the will of fate, lived out the last years of their lives in the Crimea, as well as on the memoirs of the historian of special services and writer Georgy Seversky, the author of the well-known “His Excellency’s Adjutant”.
The dropout rate was quite large: as a rule, no more than 50% of the graduates completely coped with the task. Many of those who perfectly mastered the theory simply could not physically kill a person. Naturally, such people were not fired from the KGB, they were simply given other work.
Until the beginning of the 1990s, the West did not even imagine that there was a whole department in the State Security Committee, whose tasks included assassinations and other acts of intimidation and retribution. Of course, it was known that the Soviet special services were engaged in the physical elimination of objectionable people. But no one could have imagined that this was done by a specialized structure, which included educational institutions, a huge staff of scientific, technical, medical and other servants.
The KGB major Oleg Lyalin, who left for the West in September 1971, told the world about the 13th department. The officer fled from the London residency, fearing exposure and reprisals. By his own admission, he was shocked by the story of Oleg Kalugin about how the famous defector Oleg Penkovsky actually died. The traitor was allegedly not shot, but burned alive in a crematorium oven.
In fact, Lyalin was by no means a timid man: a specialist in hand-to-hand combat, an excellent sniper and paratrooper, he spent his entire adult life engaged in the physical elimination of opponents of the Soviet regime, mainly in Western countries. Lyalin himself said that he happened to liquidate more than a dozen people. At that time, Lyalin was listed in department "B" ("Retribution") of the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the KGB of the USSR, which was formed in 1969 instead of the old 13th department, disbanded after the flight of officers Khokhlov and Stashinsky (the latter is known due to his direct participation in the murder of Stepan Bandera).
Why, in fact, the 13th? There was a legend about this among the committee members. In total, PSU had 17 departments. From the 1st to the 10th inclusive, as well as the 17th, they were engaged in specific countries: someone in the USA and Canada, someone in Latin America, etc. 11th - connections with intelligence agencies of the countries of the socialist camp, with the Romanian Securitatey, the German Stasi and others. The 12th was called "veteran", it was staffed by experts who had several decades of service in the authorities. As a rule, all these people were registered in various research institutes and were considered ordinary scientists in the world. The 14th department was in charge of the development of technical means for carrying out operations: weapons, cryptography, cameras, poisons and antidotes were also prepared there. The 15th department was the archive of the PSU, and in the 16th there were cryptographers and decryptors.
So, the legend said that they were going to make the “liquidators” the 1st department, but allegedly Yuri Andropov, who was directly related to the formation of the PGU, a man not without humor, offered the 13th number to the assassins-murderers. They say that the evil spirit kept. But it turned out the other way around: the 13th was considered the most unfortunate unit of the PSU, the department had the highest turnover of personnel, and here cases of defections became more frequent. In general, the department was disbanded.
The training of assassins and saboteurs was taken up by the newly formed department (department) "B", later transformed into the 8th department of department "C" ("Illegals"). Department "B" had a broader specialization than its predecessor, which was behind the eyes called the department of mokrushnikov. Its functions began to include the preparation and conduct of sabotage in various utilities, transport and communications facilities within the country and abroad, the recruitment of especially valuable agents and many other previously unusual functions.
Training of employees has become more targeted. The training center in Balashikha was completely reoriented to their training, and the period of study of a specialist increased from six months to three years. True or not, it is difficult to say, but the veterans also recalled such a specific moment: all graduates who were supposed to work as “liquidators” in the future were facing “exams”. It was necessary to successfully carry out one liquidation, after which the graduate was considered a full-fledged employee. Operations were carried out both within the USSR and in the West.
Oleg Lyalin was recruited by the British from Mi-5 about six months before his flight. They recruited him as an ordinary employee of the embassy, unaware of the special form of his activity. And only after Lyalin transmitted the first information, it became clear who the Mi-5 was really dealing with.
The agent announced plans to carry out sabotage in London, Washington, Paris, Bonn, Rome and other capitals of Western states, as well as the fact that in almost every European capital Department "B" employees were ordered to "keep at gunpoint" not only individual politicians, businessmen and public figures, but also former defectors, emigrants of the first and second waves, as well as ... employees of Soviet embassies and even fellow agents, so that in the event of a critical situation they should be immediately eliminated.
The information so shocked the British that at first they did not believe in them and dedicated their American colleagues to them - which Mi-5 always did only in special cases. The Americans, in turn, immediately not only offered Lyalin a colonel's rank and a well-paid position in Langley, but also promised to resolve all issues related to moving his relatives to the West. Lyalin refused: he had no intention of fleeing to the West, apparently hoping to work as a double agent for as long as possible. But the nerves passed after six months.
The British got hold of such information that they did not possess for at least a quarter of a century. Based on the data received from Lyalin, 105 (!) employees of the Soviet embassy, as well as Soviet citizens who constantly worked in the United Kingdom, were expelled from the UK. 90 KGB and GRU officers in London were expelled from the country. Another 15 people who were on vacation in the Soviet Union were notified that they were not allowed to re-enter. Neither before nor after such a large-scale expulsion was carried out.
Moreover, Lyalin spoke about agents recruited by him and his colleagues from among British subjects who could provide support to illegal immigrants from department "B". In addition, the British side was given a list of sabotage organized by us: plans to flood the London Underground, blow up a missile early warning station in Fylingdale (North Yorkshire), destroy class V strategic bombers on the ground and attack other military installations. But that's more! Soviet agents under the guise of messengers and couriers were supposed to scatter colorless ampoules of poison in the editorial offices of newspapers, offices of parties and ministries, which killed everyone who stepped on them.
When it came to granting Lyalin British citizenship, the United Kingdom prosecutor's office informed the House of Commons that the fugitive major had told a lot of useful things about "organizing sabotage in Great Britain and preparing to liquidate persons who were considered enemies of the USSR." After the flight of Lyalin, department "B" was again disbanded, and its employees were recalled from foreign residencies in full force. An unprecedented event for the KGB.
The department was disbanded, but the training of assassin agents continued. On the basis of the 13th and Department (Department) "B", the 8th Department of the Department "C" of PSU was created. We know even less about the activities of the new structure than about its predecessor units. It is known, perhaps, only about one of the operations, which received the code name "Tunnel". It was carried out in 1984. Student students were entrusted with the preparation and execution of the murders of 10 citizens of Poland, the USSR and Czechoslovakia suspected of spying for the United States and Israel.
There has not been such a massive number of murders of espionage outside the court record in the Soviet Union since the late 40s. Usually, suspects were either immediately arrested, tried and sent to Soviet prisons, or exchanged for captured Soviet agents, or - if they had diplomatic immunity - expelled abroad. But within the framework of the "Tunnel", it was decided to carry out several demonstrative "liquidations" in order to consolidate the knowledge gained by the agents in practice.
Selected 12 potential victims convicted of spying for the United States and Israel. They were ordered to liquidate "students". As a result, 10 people were killed, and two who operated in the USSR managed to escape (later they were arrested, tried and shot). During the operation, one special agent died - he crashed, falling from the roof of a nine-story building.
The Balashikha training center is still operating today, now there is a training school for the anti-terrorism department.
I believe that in the circles of the intelligentsia, Leonid Mlechin’s article published in Novaya Gazeta “The State Security Committee has ...” (see No. ideological sabotage of the enemy. In practice, it was a secret political police that punished dissent and dissidents. That is, they could have been imprisoned for a joke. As Academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Pokrovsky (6 years in Dubrovlag for participating in an underground Marxist circle) told me, a photographer was serving a term in the same political zone, filming not the most, let's say, presentable areas in his native city. His verdict read: "Photographing contrived facts"
In an article by Leonid Mlechin, I was struck by a phrase from the report of the Chekists: “Applicants entering the M. Gorky Literary Institute were checked, and several people were not allowed to take exams - they received compromising materials.”
That is, the guys had a dream - to get into the legendary House of Herzen, to the Literary Institute, the only one in the USSR. Passed the creative competition, arrived. And they were not given exam papers at the interview. No explanation. Sent home. Put in a humiliating position in front of friends for years to come. After all, there, in their towns, something needs to be explained. Dobro would not have scored the required points on the results of the entrance exams ... But what can I say?
Therefore, we will define clear boundaries of the conversation. To not spread. The disposition is as follows:
- there were students of the Literary Institute, writers - obviously suspected of deviations from the ideological line;
- there were people in uniform, watching them, called upon to stop, to prevent damage to the Motherland.
And let's move on to statistics.
As far as I know, from 1960 to 1991, before the collapse of the USSR, not a single graduate of the Literary Institute, a writer, was convicted under Article 64 of the Criminal Code “Treason to the Motherland”. There were defectors. The most famous is Anatoly Kuznetsov, a graduate of the Literary Institute, executive secretary of the Tula branch of the Writers' Union. He stayed in London in 1969. Because of what there was a big scandal. And also - Arkady Belinkov (study at the Literary Institute in the 40s, arrest, 12 years in Karlag, amnesty in 1956, remained abroad in 1968) and Sergey Yurienen (defector in 1977).
Others were either expelled or forced to leave. Solzhenitsyn was arrested and ... sent by plane to Germany. Iosif Brodsky, Georgy Vladimov, Vladimir Maksimov, Viktor Nekrasov, Vasily Aksenov, Sergei Dovlatov, Vladimir Voinovich (at one time he was not admitted to the Literary Institute), Naum Korzhavin (entered the Literary Institute in 1945, in 1947 arrested and sent into exile, rehabilitated in 1956, restored at the Literary Institute and graduated in 1959), Anatoly Gladilin (studied at the Literary Institute in 1954-1958). Let us especially note: they are all civilians (civilians), they did not take a military oath, and, in principle, there was and is nothing criminal in their departure to another country.
Did our Motherland feel better from their departure (expulsion)? Or, on the contrary, has the Motherland lost something? The issue is under discussion. But here are the undeniable facts.
Let's take the stronghold of the state (as is commonly believed) - the KGB, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU, military intelligence), foreign intelligence (until 1991 - the First Main Directorate of the KGB) and other similar services. All of the following persons took an oath, all of them were accused and convicted (in person or in absentia) under the article “Treason to the Motherland”.
Major General of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense D. Polyakov was a CIA agent for more than 20 years, he surrendered 19 illegal Soviet intelligence officers and 150 foreign agents.
Military intelligence officer N. Chernov handed over to the CIA thousands of documents on the activities of our residencies in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland.
KGB captain Yu. Nosenko turned in several double agents and also confirmed information about listening devices at the US embassy.
Foreign Intelligence Colonel Hero of the Soviet Union A. Kulak gave the FBI information about KGB agents in New York.
Foreign intelligence captain O. Lyalin completely uncovered the intelligence network in the UK.
Illegal foreign intelligence Yu. Loginov worked as a double agent for the CIA.
Colonel of foreign intelligence O. Gordievsky ... Well, everyone knows him, in the West they call him "the second largest agent of British intelligence in the ranks of the Soviet special services."
And who is the first? Of course, Colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense Oleg Penkovsky. He is considered the most effective agent of the West, and the volume and importance of his information are exceptional in the entire history of enemy intelligence operations against the USSR.
Postcard with encrypted text from the court case of Soviet military intelligence colonel Oleg Penkovsky
Military-technical intelligence: lieutenant colonel V. Vetrov, S. Illarionov, colonel V. Konoplev.
KGB: Major V. Sheimov, Lieutenant V. Makarov, Deputy Head of the Moscow Department of the KGB Major S. Vorontsov, counterintelligence officer V. Yurchenko, Major M. Butkov, Senior Lieutenant A. Semenov, B. Stashinsky, A. Oganesyan, N. Grigoryan.
Military intelligence: lieutenant colonel P. Popov, colonel S. Bokhan, counterintelligence officer of the Western Group of Forces V. Lavrentiev, lieutenant colonel V. Baranov, major A. Chebotarev, E. Sorokin, major A. Filatov, colonel G. Smetanin, N. Petrov.
Foreign intelligence: Major A. Golitsyn, Major S. Levchenko, Major V. Rezun, employee of the apparatus of the Soviet military attaché in Hungary V. Vasiliev, Washington station officer I. Kochnov, Lieutenant Colonel O. Morozov, Colonel V. Oshchenko, Lieutenant Colonel L. Poleshchuk, Lieutenant Colonel B Yuzhin, officer of the residency in Morocco A. Bogaty, Lieutenant Colonel V. Martynov, Colonel L. Zemenek, Major S. Motorin, Lieutenant Colonel G. Varenik, V. Sakharov, Colonel V. Piguzov, Colonel V. Gundarev, I. Cherpinsky, Lieutenant Colonel V. Fomenko, Lieutenant Colonel E. Runge, Major S. Papushin, Major V. Mitrokhin, Major V. Kuzichkin.
The list is not complete, from publicly available sources, and only for 30 years, from 1960 to 1991. But we can still compare: two graduates of the Literary Institute who remained abroad, several writers who were forced or voluntarily left the USSR, and dozens of graduates of all courses and universities of the KGB, the GRU, the Ministry of Defense, who violated the oath, the sacred military oath to the Motherland, convicted for state treason, for working for foreign intelligence.
And who, one asks, betrayed the Motherland?
Sergei Baimukhametov —
especially for the new
In 1989, the 5th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was renamed the Directorate for the Protection of the Soviet Constitutional System. Now - the 2nd Service of the FSB (Service for the Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism). For some reason, it is the 2nd Service, according to the press, that conducts operational support for the "economic" case of director Serebrennikov. “Work on creative unions” continues?
The officers of the active reserve (ODR) of the KGB were called officers, generals and admirals of the KGB, sent to work under cover in civilian departments and institutions. The activities of the ODR are little covered in open sources, which often gives rise to unhealthy speculation. This section attempts to summarize the available data based on memoirs, published documents and analysis of the biographies of famous KGB officers.
The ODR was engaged in ensuring the regime, protecting secrecy, performing intelligence (preparing operational officers for long-term trips abroad under the cover of departments and further work abroad, conducting active measures, etc.) and counterintelligence tasks from the standpoint of civilian departments and institutions. Also in the active reserve were KGB officers sent to work in specialized party bodies: party committees of the KGB and its divisions, the sector of state security organs of the department of administrative bodies of the Central Committee of the CPSU, etc. After the start of "perestroika", ODRs were also sent to emerging commercial structures.
On October 24, 1955, the Decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU No. P165 / XXI-op was adopted from "On officers of the KGB bodies working in other organizations, ministries and departments." On December 24, 1958, the Instruction was approved for working with the officers of the active reserve of the KGB, sent to civilian ministries and departments.
Apparently, in the period between 1958 and 1972, officers of the active reserves of the KGB and the PGU of the KGB were allocated to different categories. As the name implies, the KGB ODR was entrusted with counterintelligence work and the protection of the regime in departments, and the PGU ODR was responsible for resolving intelligence tasks.
Since 1972, the activities of the KGB ODR were regulated by the “Regulations on the Officers of the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, sent to ministries, departments, institutions, educational institutions, organizations and enterprises for counterintelligence work, ensuring the regime and protecting secrecy and credited to the KGB active reserve under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. By order of the KGB No. 0360 of 1978, changes were made to it. In 1981, the decision of the KGB Collegium "On the status and measures to further improve the work of officers of the active reserve of counterintelligence units of the central apparatus of the KGB of the USSR and local KGB bodies" was announced, in pursuance of which in 1982 a new "Regulation on officers of the active reserve" was approved KGB of the USSR, working through counterintelligence units under the cover of ministries, state committees and departments of the USSR.
In the departments (institutions, enterprises) regime units were openly operating. At the beginning of 1966, by order of the KGB, for the purpose of secrecy, they received digital designations - as a rule, they were listed under the 1st number (the exception was the system of the Ministry of Medium Machine Building, where the 2nd Directorate (then the Main Directorate) and the 2nd departments) . In addition to them, the KGB ODR, sent with intelligence and counterintelligence tasks, formed deeply secret structures in the departments - intelligence groups and intelligence departments (PGU) and security services (counterintelligence units). Intelligence departments could operate both in one department, and unite several departments of a similar profile. By 1970, the appointment of high-ranking KGB officers to senior positions in the central offices of all-Union departments began - deputy ministers or advisers to the chairman of the state committee on regime and security issues.
Below is a list of all-Union departments and public organizations in which the well-known SDRs operated:
The direction of KGB officers to the active reserve is carried out by the interested KGB subdivisions in agreement with the heads of the relevant ministries or departments for positions to be filled by the officers of the KGB. Lists of positions were established by decisions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In all cases, the heads of the department and, as a rule, the secretaries of party committees and heads of personnel apparatuses, and, if necessary, the heads of departments (departments, departments) of departments in which the officers directly work should have been informed about the belonging of an undercover employee to the KGB in all cases.
Distribution of SDRs in territorial bodies (on the example of the KGB of the Estonian SSR in the 1980s):
Sources: I. L. Ustinov, Stronger than steel. Notes of a veteran of military counterintelligence; VN Snegirev, General of the invisible front; E. Grig, Yes, I worked there; F.Panferov, The fate of the Chekist; I. Sinitsyn, Andropov near; N.A. Gorbachev, Notes of a failed historian; O. Kalugin, Farewell, Lubyanka!;
Heroes of bygone times: Protection of the General Secretary is not a decree. Part 1/V January 15th, 2016
Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev surrounded by guards on Place de la Bastille in Paris. Photo: Laurent Rebours / AP
How Mikhail Gorbachev was left without people loyal to him
9th Directorate of the KGB: 1985–1992
A study of the history of bodyguards in the USSR reveals a clear trend: if the attached people had good relations with the protected, then they remained faithful to him to the end, even after his death. And vice versa: arrogance, captiousness and ingratitude in dealing with personal security officers could, at a difficult moment, leave the leader of a huge country alone with his problems and enemies.
"I will come here in a year"
On November 15, 1982, in the Hall of Columns of the House of the Unions of the USSR, a farewell ceremony was held for Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. On this day, a tradition significant for all those present in the main mourning hall of the country was established. The first to leave the "special zone" to the coffin of the deceased General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was his successor. This moment was awaited with the deepest trepidation by all those present without exception. Including the leaders of the leading powers of the world, who considered it necessary to personally come to the funeral of the head of the Soviet state.
The funeral of Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov took place on February 14, 1984. They were attended by George Bush (senior), then Vice President of the United States, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Both of them were present that day in the Hall of Columns. The current president of NAST Russia, Dmitry Fonarev, at that event was responsible for meeting distinguished guests at a special entrance to the House of the Unions and for escorting them to the farewell place in the Hall of Columns. According to him, Margaret Thatcher, seeing that Konstantin Chernenko was the first to appear from the open door in the opposite corner of the hall (he had Viktor Ladygin as the head of the security group), said to her escorts: “I will come here again in a year.”
And so it happened: Thatcher fulfilled her promise on March 13, 1985, and this time she saw that the first to come out of the "sacred" room to the coffin of Konstantin Chernenko was Mikhail Gorbachev (head of security - Nikolai Zemlyansky).
In order to give the reader the opportunity to better experience the scale of such mourning events, it is enough to tell how much work fell on the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR during these four days that were not joyful for the country.
So, at the funeral of Brezhnev, at the invitation of the Central Committee of the CPSU, leaders of 35 countries arrived. The number of delegations represented by other persons was up to 170. Each head of a foreign state was provided with mandatory security from officers of the 18th department and the main car of the GON. High-level delegations from the socialist countries were provided with accommodation in state mansions, the rest were accommodated in their embassies and representative offices.
In the same way, according to the security plans drawn up for the funeral of Joseph Stalin, other mourning events took place.
Personnel
By 1985, the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was a superbly debugged system that fully met the requirements of the era. In general terms, its basic structure can be described as follows:
1st department - personal protection:
18th (reserve) department
security departments of each protected person
2nd department - counterintelligence (internal security service)
4th department - engineering and construction
The 5th department united three departments:
1st squad - protection of the Kremlin and Red Square
2nd department - protection of routes
3rd branch - protection of urban residences of protected persons
6th department - special kitchen
The 7th department united two departments:
1st department - protection of country cottages
2nd department - protection of state-owned buildings on Lengory
8th department - economic
Commandant's Office of the Moscow Kremlin:
Commandant's Office of the 14th Corps of the Kremlin
Kremlin regiment
The commandant's office for the protection of the buildings of the Central Committee of the CPSU on Staraya Square
Commandant's Office for the Protection of Buildings of the Council of Ministers
Special purpose garage
Human Resources Department
Department of Service and combat training (headquarters)
The personnel of the 9th Directorate numbered just over 5,000 people, including officers, employees (ensigns) and civilians. Candidates for the positions of employees of the department underwent a standard semi-annual personnel check through the KGB of the USSR and then a “young fighter course” at the special training center “Kupavna”. According to the established procedure, officers were allowed to work in the 1st department, with a few exceptions, who had worked exemplarily in the department for at least three years. Attached - the heads of security groups, as a rule, were appointed from officers of the 18th department with at least ten years of experience.
The first department was headed by a participant in the Great Patriotic War, Major General Nikolai Pavlovich Rogov, whom the officers called the White General with love and reverence - for his noble gray hair. Nikolai Rogov was replaced by the legendary Mikhail Vladimirovich Titkov, who went through his entire professional career from ensign to general in the “nine”.
In fact, by the mid-1980s, the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was a powerful and rigidly centralized system, the head of which had direct access to the head of state. At the same time, he had at his disposal all the power of both the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. As for the army, the minister of defense was ex officio a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU and therefore was also guarded by officers of the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. At the same time, the officers - attached to the Minister of Defense of the USSR worked in the military uniform of majors - this corresponded to their ranks in the KGB, and one can imagine how many curious situations arose in their work when they indicated their proper place to the multi-star army generals ...
Security officer of the KGB of the USSR at the post. Photo: Nikolai Malyshev / TASS
14th branch of the 1st department of the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR
From the day of the death of Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko, the leadership of the "nine" began literally emergency work on the selection of personnel for the security group of the newly appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev. The traditional forge of personnel for the entire 1st department was its 18th department, which at that time was headed by Vladimir Timofeevich Medvedev.
It was necessary to find a person who, in accordance with his professional experience, would be able to lead the main security group, and at the same time, both in age and in human qualities, would fit the Gorbachev couple. It was the couple, not the spouse. This was perfectly understood by the head of the "nine" Yuri Sergeevich Plekhanov. The candidacy of Vladimir Timofeevich was the best fit. It remained to determine the number and quality of officers for the field guard of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. This work was entrusted to the leadership of the 1st department and the personnel department of the "nine".
Since the new Soviet leader, unlike the previous ones, was a man of active age, dynamic, the requirements for the personnel of the field guard department, which had already received its own separate - 14th - number, also changed. These requirements were formed not by the defendant himself, as is commonly believed in wide circles, but by the head of the 9th Directorate, Yuri Plekhanov, and the head of the security group itself, Vladimir Medvedev.
The backbone of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev's field guard was made up of officers who already had experience working with top officials of the state. They were joined by young officers of the 18th division with sports qualifications (primarily in hand-to-hand combat), who not only underwent a strict personnel check, but also possessed the necessary intellectual and external data.
The full composition of the security group of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the period from 1985 to 1992:
Medvedev Vladimir Timofeevich, head of the department, senior officer-attached;
Golentsov Boris Ivanovich, attached officer;
Goryachikh Evgeny, attached officer;
Zemlyansky Nikolai, attached officer;
Klimov Oleg, attached officer;
Lifanichev Yury Nikolaevich, attached officer;
Osipov Alexander, attached officer;
Pestov Valery Borisovich, attached officer;
Semkin Vyacheslav, commandant of the security group;
Belikov Andrey;
Voronin Vladimir;
Golev Alexander;
Golubkov-Yagodkin Evgeny;
Goman Sergey;
Grigoriev Evgeny;
Grigoriev Mikhail;
Zubkov Mikhail;
Ivanov Vladimir;
Klepikov Alexander;
Makarov Yuri;
Malin Nikolay;
Reshetov Evgeny;
Samoilov Valery;
Tektov Nikolay;
Feduleev Vyacheslav.
The head of security and the guarded already knew each other. In the summer of 1984, Medvedev was assigned to accompany Raisa Maksimovna, Gorbachev's wife, on a trip to Bulgaria. At the same time, he was quite transparently hinted that the assignment could greatly affect his future fate. The KGB already knew that the young and promising Mikhail Gorbachev would replace the aged Konstantin Chernenko. The only question was time. Vladimir Medvedev successfully passed his "exam" in Bulgaria.
At first, Vladimir Timofeevich was very pleased with the new service. Working with the energetic and young Gorbachev seemed much more interesting than with the ailing Brezhnev. Yes, and Raisa Maksimovna initially made a good impression on him. But the joy was short-lived.
The material was prepared under the editorship
National Association of Bodyguards (NAST) of Russia
Also for help in preparing the article "Russian Planet" thanks
Evgeny Georgievich Grigoriev, Vyacheslav Georgievich Naumov
and Alexander Mikhailovich Soldatov
