First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR

"The lack of reliable information about the plans and intentions of the numerous enemies of the Soviet Republic, settled outside its borders, deprived the leadership of the possibility of making the right decisions, primarily in the field of foreign policy, which predetermined the appearance in the spring of 1920 of a new unit in the Special Division of the Cheka , the Foreign Department" - writes the candidate. East. Sciences V. Lebedev.

In connection with the results of the Polish campaign , in September 1920 the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (B.) Decided to reorganize foreign intelligence: a commission was created under the chairmanship of the first head of the Cheka, F. E. Dzerzhinsky , on the basis of which he signed a historic order on December 20, 1920 No. 169 on the creation of the Foreign Department of the Cheka.

• December 20, 1920 - the Foreign Department (INO) of the Cheka was organized under the NKVD of the RSFSR . It was headed by Davydov (Davtyan) Yakov Khristoforovich
• February 6, 1922 - the INO VChK was renamed the INO GPU NKVD of the RSFSR
• November 2, 1923 - the Foreign Department of the United State Political Administration (OGPU) under the Council of People's Commissars ( SNK ) was established
• July 10, 1934 - foreign intelligence was transferred to the 7th department of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) of the NKVD of the USSR
• July 1939 - in connection with the next reorganization of the NKVD, intelligence is concentrated in the 5th department of the GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR
• February 1941 - I Department of the NKGB of the USSR was created, which is entrusted with conducting foreign intelligence
• April 1943 - intelligence is concentrated in the I Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR
• March 1946 - the First Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR was created, which was engaged in foreign intelligence
• 1947 - a decision was made to create an Information Committee (CI) under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, which combines external political and military intelligence
• February 1949 - CI at the Council of Ministers of the USSR reorganized into CI at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• January 1952, the First Main Directorate (PSU) of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR was established
• March 1953 - PSU MGB reorganized into 2 Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR
• March 1954 - external intelligence is assigned to the First Main Directorate (PGU) of the State Security Committee under the USSR Council of Ministers
• July 1978 - PSU KGB under the USSR Council of Ministers was renamed PSU KGB of the USSR
• On November 25, 1991, by decree of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, the provisional “Regulation on the Central Statistical Bureau of the USSR” was approved, which listed the functions of the service, its director, the status of employees of the Central Statistical Commission and other issues of its activities.
• On December 3, 1991, the division of the KGB of the USSR into the Inter-Republican Security Service, the Central Intelligence Service and the Committee for the Protection of the State Border of the USSR was approved by the latest Law of the USSR - “On the Reorganization of State Security Bodies”.
• after the collapse of the USSR in December 1991 - the USSR TSSR was reorganized into the Foreign Intelligence Service of the RSFSR .

Many Russian politicians served at PSU KGB of the USSR, including Vladimir Putin , Sergey Ivanov , Sergey Naryshkin , Vladimir Yakunin .

The conventional name PSU KGB USSR was military unit 54282 ^[1] .

In the 1920-1930s, training was carried out at the Oriental Department of the Military Academy of the Red Army named after MV Frunze ^[3] .

In 1938, a departmental educational institution appeared - the NKVD Special Purpose School .

Management

• Management P (operational planning and analysis)
• Management K (counterintelligence)
• Office C (illegal immigrants)
• Management of OT (operational-technical)
• Management AND (computer service)
• Management T (scientific and technical intelligence)
• Intelligence Department (analysis and evaluation)
• Office of the Republic of Tajikistan ("Exploration from the Territory" - operations on the territory of the USSR)

Services

• Service A ( active events )
• Service P (radio)
• Service of the Eighth KGB Directorate (encryption services)

Departments

• USA, Canada
• Latin America
• Great Britain, Australia, Africa, New Zealand, Scandinavia
• East Germany, West Germany, Austria
• Benelux countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania
• China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea
• Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines
• Non-Arab countries of the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iran
• English-speaking countries of Africa
• French-speaking countries in Africa
• Contacts with socialist countries
• Registration and archives
• Electronic interception and operations against encryption services in Western countries
• India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma
• Arab Middle East
• Emigration
• Contacts with developing countries

The tasks of PSU KGB were defined in the so-called “Intelligence Doctrine” approved in 1974 as follows ^[4] :

Given the split of the world into two warring camps, the enemy’s possession of weapons, mass destruction, a sharp increase in the surprise factor in a nuclear missile war, the main task of intelligence is to identify the military strategic plans of the states opposing the USSR, timely warn the government about emerging crisis situations and prevent sudden attacks on the Soviet Union or countries associated with the USSR by allied treaties.

Proceeding from this task, the KGB intelligence directs its efforts to solving key problems that are potentially fraught with international conflicts and could, in the event of an unfavorable development of events, present both a short and a long term immediate danger to the Soviet state and the socialist community as a whole. First of all, it takes into account the factors on which the current balance of power on the world stage depends, as well as possible fundamental changes in the existing equilibrium. These include, but are not limited to:

- the emergence of a new political situation in the United States , in which representatives of extremely aggressive circles will prevail, prone to launch a preemptive missile strike on the USSR;

- the emergence of a similar situation in Germany or Japan , reinforced by revanchist and great-power aspirations;

- the development of extreme adventurous, leftist views , as a result of which individual states or groups of states can provoke a world war in order to change the current balance of forces;

- attempts by the imperialist forces in various forms to divide the socialist community, isolate and tear apart individual countries from it;

- the emergence of crisis situations of a military-political nature in certain strategically important regions and countries, the development of which could jeopardize the existing equilibrium or draw the great powers into direct confrontation with the prospect of developing into a world war; the development of a similar situation in bordering and neighboring non-socialist countries;

- a qualitatively new leap in the development of scientific and technological thought, which provides the enemy with a clear superiority in military potential and means of warfare.

Acting in accordance with the directives as directed by the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet government, the KGB’s foreign intelligence simultaneously solves the following main tasks:

In the military-political field:

- timely reveals political, military-political and economic plans and intentions, especially long-term ones, of the main imperialist states, primarily the USA, their allies in aggressive blocs, as well as Mao Zedong’s group in relation to the Soviet Union and other socialist countries;

- reveals the enemy’s plans aimed at weakening the socialist community, undermining its unity;

- systematically studies the political situation in socialist countries, paying particular attention to the activities of imperialist agents, anti-socialist, revanchist and nationalist elements. Strengthens cooperation and interaction with the security organs of the socialist states;

- Obtains information about the enemy’s plans to combat the communist, workers and national liberation movements;

- monitors the situation in the non-socialist states adjacent to the Soviet Union, their foreign policy, their possible attempts at an anti-Soviet conspiracy or commission of acts hostile to the USSR;

- Obtains secret information about the behind-the-scenes sides of the domestic political, military and economic situation of the main enemy countries, the existing and emerging domestic and international contradictions, the situation in military-political blocs, economic groups and other data necessary for the development and implementation of Soviet foreign policy;

- identifies the enemy’s vulnerabilities and, in cooperation with other Soviet departments, takes measures to weaken and undermine his political, economic and military positions, to divert his attention from areas and countries where enemy activity can harm the interests of the Soviet Union;

- Conducts a comprehensive and continuous analysis and forecasting of international problems that are most relevant and acute from the point of view of the interests of the Soviet Union, the socialist community and the international communist movement as a whole.

In the scientific and technical field:

- Obtains secret information on nuclear missile weapons of the main enemy countries and their allies in military-political blocs, on other means of mass destruction and protection against them, as well as specific data on promising areas in science, technology and production technology in the leading capitalist states, the use of which could help strengthen the military-economic and scientific-technical progress of the USSR;

- timely reveals and predicts new discoveries and development trends of foreign science and technology that could lead to a significant jump in the scientific, technical and military potential of the enemy or the creation of new types of weapons that can radically change the existing balance of forces in the world;

- analyzes, summarizes and through appropriate departments implements extracted intelligence materials on theoretical and applied research, created and existing weapon systems and their elements, new technological processes, issues of the military economy and control systems.

In the field of external counterintelligence:

- obtains information abroad on hostile intentions, intentions, forms and methods of practical activity of intelligence and counterintelligence services of the main enemy, psychological warfare agencies and centers of ideological sabotage against the Soviet Union, the entire socialist camp, the communist and national liberation movements;

- identifies hostile scouts and agents prepared to be sent to the Soviet Union, methods and channels of their communication, tasks. Together with other units of the KGB and the security organs of the socialist countries, it is taking measures to curb their subversive activities;

- Carries out measures to compromise and misinform enemy intelligence services, to divert and disperse their forces;

- ensures the preservation of state secrets abroad, the safety of Soviet institutions and seconded Soviet citizens, as well as the activities of KGB intelligence agencies;

- accumulates and analyzes information about the subversive work of the special services of the main enemy, on the basis of the material received, develops recommendations for improving intelligence and counterintelligence work behind the cordon.

In the field of active operations, carries out activities that contribute to:

- solving foreign policy tasks of the Soviet Union;

- exposing and disrupting the ideological sabotage of the enemy against the USSR and the socialist community;

- consolidation of the international communist movement, intensification of the national liberation, anti-imperialist struggle;

- the growth of the economic, scientific and technological power of the Soviet Union;

- exposing military preparations of hostile USSR states;

- misinformation of the enemy regarding foreign policy, military and intelligence actions being prepared or conducted by the USSR, the state of the country's military, economic, scientific and technical potential;

- Compromise of the most dangerous anti-communist and anti-Soviet leaders, the worst enemies of the Soviet state.

When conducting active intelligence operations, depending on specific conditions, use not only their own forces, specific means and methods, but also the capabilities of the KGB as a whole, other Soviet institutions, departments and organizations, as well as the armed forces.

In the field of special operations, using particularly acute means of control:

- to carry out sabotage actions in order to disorganize the activities of the enemy’s special agencies, as well as certain governmental, political, military facilities in the event of a special period or a crisis situation;

- to carry out special measures against traitors to the motherland and operations to curb the anti-Soviet activities of the most active enemies of the Soviet state;

- to seize and secretly deliver to the USSR persons who are carriers of important state and other enemy secrets, weapons, equipment, and secret documentation;

- create prerequisites for the use in the interests of the USSR of individual centers of the anti-imperialist movement and partisan struggle in foreign countries;

- provide communications on special tasks and provide assistance with weapons, instructors, etc. the leadership of fraternal communist parties, progressive groups and organizations waging an armed struggle in isolation from the outside world.

Based on the possibility of a crisis situation and the unleashing of a nuclear missile war by the progressive circles against the Soviet Union, the USSR’s foreign intelligence in advance and systematically ensures the survivability and effectiveness of reconnaissance vehicles, their deployment in the most important points and countries, the deployment of agents in the main targets, and the uninterrupted reception of information about the enemy . To this end, it constantly trains the intelligence network and other forces, supports their combat effectiveness, and also provides training for all intelligence personnel, and especially its illegal apparatus.

Heads:

• Alexander Panyushkin ( 1954 - 1956 )
• Alexander Sakharovsky ( 1956 - 1972 )
• Fedor Mortin ( 1972 - 1974 )
• Vladimir Kryuchkov ( 1974 - 1988 )
• Leonid Shebarshin ( 1989 - 1991 )
• Evgeny Primakov ( September 30 - November 6, 1991 )

First deputies:

• Fedor Mortin ( 1958 - 1971 )
• Alfonsas Randakevicius ( 1967 )
• Vladimir Kryuchkov ( 1971 - 1974 )
• Mikhail Usatov ( 1974 - 1979 )
• Boris Ivanov ( 1974 - 1979 )
• Vadim Kirpichenko ( 1979 - 1991 )
• Ivan Markelov ( 1979 - 1983 )
• Victor Grushko ( 1983 - 1989 )
• Gennady Titov ( 1989 - 1991 )
• Vladimir Rozhkov ( 1991 )

• Special Faculty of the Military Academy of the Red Army named after M.V. Frunze
• List of chiefs of Soviet and Russian foreign intelligence
• The first (intelligence) department
• USSR State Security Committee
• History of the Soviet State Security Agencies
• Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation
• Главное разведывательное управление Генерального штаба Вооруженных сил СССР

• Филби К. Моя тайная война. — М.: Воениздат, 1980.
• Кокарев К. А. Советские спецслужбы и Восток // Азия и Африка сегодня. — 2014, № 5, с. 77.
• Degtyarev K., Kolpakidi A. Foreign intelligence of the USSR. - M .: Yauza Eksmo, 2009 .-- S. 13-205. - 736 p. - (Encyclopedia of special services). - 4000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-34180-1 .
• Gusterin P. At the origins of Soviet intelligence in the East // Asia and Africa today. - 2012. - No. 3 (656) .
• Pavel Gusterin. Soviet intelligence in the Near and Middle East in the 1920-30s. - Saarbrücken, 2014 .-- ISBN 978-3-659-51691-7 .

• 1st General Directorate
• Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
• Intelligence History Articles
• Dossier on the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR on the website Razvedinfo.ru