Okhranka

The Okhranka were the secret police of the Russian Empire. The full name was Security Bureau (Okhrannoje Otdelenie, in Russian) of the Ministry of the Interior's Department of Police. It was informally called "Okhrana". "Okhranka", or "tsarist okhranka" in the derogatory naming used by revolutionaries and other people dissatisfied with the tsarist regime. Its headquarters were located in St. Petersburg, its street address, Fontanka Quai 16, being infamously known in Russia. The Okhranka operated offices throughout the Russian Empire and in a number of foreign satellite agencies primarily concerned with monitoring the activities of Russian revolutionaries abroad, most notably in Paris.

As the name suggests, its primary purpose was the security of tsar and royal family, including, but not limited to, struggle against hostile organizations: plots, terrorists ("bombists"), socialists, and revolutionaries.

Prisoners captured by the Okhranka were typically remanded into the normal Russian judicial system, and then either executed or sent to forced labor camps known as katorgas in extremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia, although in extraordinary circumstances, the Okhranka was permitted to conduct summary executions by hanging or firing squad.

The task was performed by all means, including covert operations, undercover agents, "perlustration"?reading of private correspondence. Even its Foreign Agency served this purpose. The Okhranka is notoriously known for its agents provocateurs Dr. Jacob Zhitomirsky (a leading Bolshevik and close associate of Lenin), Yevno Azef, Bogrov, the Bloody Sunday event (when imperial guards killed hundreds of unarmed workers who were peacably marching during a protest organized by an Okhranka agent provocateur), and fabrication of the antisemitic Beilis trial.

References

Charles A. Ruud, Sergei A. Stepanov; Fontanka 16 - The Tsars' Secret Police; McGill-Queen's University Press (paperback, 2002) ISBN 0773524843