List of Soviet secret police agencies
List of Soviet secret police agencies, the Soviet secret police agencies and their different names are as follows chronologically (take in consideration, that for most items listed there the secret policy operations are only a part of their functions):
Original secret police created by Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky on December 20 1917, called "Cheka". Officers were referred to as Chekists, a name that is still applied to police officers and people under the FSB, the KGBs successor.
- Cheka (Also called Vecheka) - All-Russian Extraordinary Committee to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage
February 8 1922 Checka becomes GPU, a section of NKVD.
- NKVD - People's Commisariat for Internal Affairs
- GPU - Main Political Directorate
In 1923 GPU changed to OGPU but remained under the auspices of the NKVD.
- OGPU - Combined State Politcal Directorate or All Union State Political Board
July 1934 (O)GPU renamed to GUGB.
- GUGB - Main Directorate of State Security
April 1943 NKVD divests itself of the functions of secret policing into the NKGB.
- NKGB - People's Commissariat of National Security
In 1946 all People's Commissariat are renamed to Ministry (See Sovnarkom)
- MGB - Ministry of State Security
MVD (Formerly NKVD, sans secret policing) and MGB (The formerly independent secret police) in March 1953 are merged into the MVD by Lavrenty Beria.
- MVD - Ministry of Internal Affairs
Beria is purged and the MVD divests itself again of the functions of secret policing. The again (As of March 13 1954) newly independent force becomes the KGB
- KGB - Committee for State Security
After the State Committee on the State Emergency fails to overthrow Gorbachev and Yeltsin takes over General FSB (Post USSR KGB sans secret policing)'s history of it's past.
