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KGB
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Lavrenty Beria Yury Vladimirovich Andropov
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Lavrenty Beria
Lavrenty Beria Director of the Soviet secret police Lavrenty Beria.

KGB

agency, Soviet Union
Also known as: Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti
Written by
Robert W. Pringle
Adjunct professor, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia. Former intelligence analyst, Directorate of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency.
Robert W. Pringle
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

KGB, foreign intelligence and domestic security agency of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet era the KGB’s responsibilities also included the protection of the country’s political leadership, the supervision of border troops, and the general surveillance of the population. Established in 1954, the KGB was the most durable of a series of security agencies starting with the Cheka, which was established in December 1917 in the first days of the Bolshevik government. The Cheka (originally...

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