Skip to content
Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/kgb-chairmen

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

List of chairmen of the KGB

none


none

FieldValue
postChairman
bodythe Committee for State Security
native_name
flagUSSR, Flag KGB commander 1964.svg
flagsize125px
flagcaptionFlag of the Chairman
imageANDROPOV1980S.jpg
imagesize165px
imagecaption**Longest serving
Yuri Andropov**
18 May 1967–26 May 1982
departmentCommittee for State Security
seatLubyanka Building, 2 Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, Moscow, Russian SFSR
appointerPremier
precursorMinister of State Security
formation13 March 1954
firstIvan Serov
lastVadim Bakatin
abolished3 December 1991
superseded_byHead of the
deputyFirst Deputy Chairman
website

Yuri Andropov** 18 May 1967–26 May 1982

The chairman of the KGB was the head of the Committee for State Security (KGB), the main security agency of the Soviet Union in 1954–1991. He was assisted by one or two first deputy chairmen, and four to six deputy chairmen. He was also the head of the Collegium of the KGB—which consisted of the chairman, deputy chairmen, directorate chiefs, and one or two republic-level KGB organization chairmen—who affected key policy decisions.

In 1934–1943 the Soviet State Security agency was part of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) as the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB). The director of the GUGB was the first deputy of the People's Commissar of Interior.

List of officeholders

No.PortraitName
(birth–death)Term of officeLeaderTook officeLeft officeTime in officeChairman of the Cheka (1917–1922)1Felix Dzerzhinsky
(1877–1926)Jēkabs Peterss
(1886–1938)
Acting(1)Felix Dzerzhinsky
(1877–1926)Chairman of the GPU–OGPU (1922, 1923–1934)Felix Dzerzhinsky
(1877–1926)2Vyacheslav Menzhinsky
(1874–1934)3Genrikh Yagoda
(1891–1938)People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1934–1941)Genrikh Yagoda
(1891–1938)4Nikolai Yezhov
(1895–1940)5Lavrentiy Beria
(1895–1940)People's Commissar for State Security (1941)6Vsevolod Merkulov
(1895–1953)People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1941–1943)(5)Lavrentiy Beria
(1899–1953)(6)People's Commissar for State Security (1943–1946)Vsevolod Merkulov
(1895–1953)Minister of State Security (1946–1953)Vsevolod Merkulov
(1895–1953)7Viktor Abakumov
(1908–1954)Sergei Ogoltsov
(1900–1976)
Acting8Semyon Ignatiev
(1904–1983)Minister of Internal Affairs (1953–1954)(5)Lavrentiy Beria
(1899–1953)9Sergei Kruglov
(1907–1977)Chairman of the Committee for State Security (1954–1991)10Ivan Serov
(1905–1990)
(1907–1980)
Acting11Alexander Shelepin
(1918–1994)Pyotr Ivashutin
(1909–2002)
Acting12Vladimir Semichastny
(1924–2001)13Yuri Andropov
(1914–1984)14Vitaly Fedorchuk
(1918–2008)15Viktor Chebrikov
(1923–1999)16Vladimir Kryuchkov
(1924–2007)Leonid Shebarshin
(1935–2012)
Acting17Vadim Bakatin
(1937–2022)
[[File:RIAN archive 6464 Dzerzhinsky.jpg100px]]20 December 19177 July 1918
[[File:Yakov Peters2.jpg100px]]7 July 191822 August 1918
[[File:RIAN archive 6464 Dzerzhinsky.jpg100px]]22 August 19186 February 1922
[[File:RIAN archive 6464 Dzerzhinsky.jpg100px]]6 February 192220 July 1926
[[File:Vyacheslav Menzhinsky 1926.jpg100px]]30 July 192610 May 1934
[[File:1936 genrich grigorijewitsch jagoda.jpg100px]]10 May 193410 July 1934
[[File:1936 genrich grigorijewitsch jagoda.jpg100px]]10 July 193426 September 1936
[[File:Ezhov NI.jpg100px]]26 September 193625 November 1938
[[File:Lavrenti-Beria.jpg100px]]25 November 19383 February 1941
[[File:Всеволод Николаевич Меркулов.jpg100px]]3 February 194120 July 1941
[[File:Lavrenti-Beria.jpg100px]]20 July 194114 April 1943
[[File:Всеволод Николаевич Меркулов.jpg100px]]14 April 194315 March 1946
[[File:Всеволод Николаевич Меркулов.jpg100px]]15 March 19464 May 1946
[[File:Viktor Abakumov.jpg100px]]4 May 194614 July 1951
14 July 19519 August 1951
9 August 19515 March 1953
[[File:Lavrenti-Beria.jpg100px]]5 March 195326 June 1953
[[File:Sergei Kruglov - between 1946 and 1953.jpg100px]]26 June 195313 March 1954
[[File:Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov.jpg100px]]13 March 19548 December 1958
8 December 195825 December 1958
[[File:1959 Press Photo Shelepin Named Chairman of the Committee of State Party Control.jpg100px]]25 December 19585 November 1961
5 November 196113 November 1961
[[File:Vladimir Semichastny.jpg100px]]13 November 196118 May 1967
[[File:ANDROPOV1980S.jpg100px]]18 May 196726 May 1982
26 May 198217 December 1982
[[File:Виктор Чебриков (cropped).jpg100px]]17 December 19821 October 1988
[[File:Владимир Крючков (16-03-1993) (cropped).jpg100px]]1 October 198828 August 1991
22 August 199123 August 1991
[[File:Вадим Бакатин (cropped).jpg100px]]29 August 19913 December 1991

Timeline

ImageSize = width:950 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:80 left:20 AlignBars = late

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1917 till:01/01/1992 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1917 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1917

BarData = bar:1 bar:2 bar:3 bar:4 bar:5 bar:6 bar:7 bar:8 bar:9 bar:10 bar:11 bar:12 bar:13 bar:14 bar:15 bar:16 bar:17 bar:18 bar:19 bar:20 bar:21 bar:22

PlotData = width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:1 from: 20/12/1917 till: 07/07/1918 color:red from: 22/08/1918 till: 20/07/1926 color:red text:"Dzerzhinsky" fontsize:10 bar:2 from: 07/07/1918 till: 22/08/1918 color:red text:"Peterss" fontsize:10 bar:3 from: 30/07/1926 till: 10/05/1934 color:red text:"Menzhinsky" fontsize:10 bar:4 from: 10/05/1934 till: 26/09/1936 color:red text:"Yagoda" fontsize:10 bar:5 from: 26/09/1936 till: 25/11/1938 color:red text:"Yezhov" fontsize:10 bar:6 from: 25/11/1938 till: 03/02/1941 color:red from: 20/07/1941 till: 14/04/1943 color:red from: 05/03/1953 till: 26/06/1953 color:red text:"Beria" fontsize:10 bar:7 from: 03/02/1941 till: 20/07/1941 color:red from: 14/04/1943 till: 18/03/1946 color:red text:"Merkulov" fontsize:10 bar:8 from: 18/03/1946 till: 14/07/1951 color:red text:"Abakumov" fontsize:10 bar:9 from: 14/07/1951 till: 09/08/1951 color:red text:"Ogoltsov" fontsize:10 bar:10 from: 09/08/1951 till: 05/03/1953 color:red text:"Ignatiev" fontsize:10 bar:11 from: 26/06/1953 till: 13/03/1954 color:red text:"Kruglov" fontsize:10 bar:12 from: 13/03/1954 till: 08/12/1958 color:red text:"Serov" fontsize:10 bar:13 from: 08/12/1958 till: 25/12/1958 color:red text:"Lunev" fontsize:10 bar:14 from: 25/12/1958 till: 05/11/1961 color:red text:"Shelepin" fontsize:10 bar:15 from: 05/11/1961 till: 13/11/1961 color:red text:"Ivashutin" fontsize:10 bar:16 from: 13/11/1961 till: 18/05/1967 color:red text:"Semichastny" fontsize:10 bar:17 from: 18/05/1967 till: 26/05/1982 color:red text:"Andropov" fontsize:10 bar:18 from: 26/05/1982 till: 17/12/1982 color:red text:"Fedorchuk" fontsize:10 bar:19 from: 17/12/1982 till: 01/10/1988 color:red text:"Chebrikov" fontsize:10 bar:20 from: 01/10/1988 till: 28/08/1991 color:red text:"Kryuchkov" fontsize:10 bar:21 from: 22/08/1991 till: 23/08/1991 color:red text:"Shebarshin" fontsize:10 bar:22 from: 29/08/1991 till: 03/12/1991 color:red text:"Bakatin" fontsize:10

Citations

Sources

  • Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), Basic Books (1999), hardcover, ; trade paperback (September, 2000),
  • John Barron, "KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents", Reader's Digest Press (1974),
  • Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, Basic Books (2005) hardcover, 677 pages

References

  1. [http://pravo.levonevsky.org/baza/soviet/sssr0011.htm Закон СССР от 03.12.1991 N 124-Н О реорганизации органов государственной безопасности]
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about List of chairmen of the KGB — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report