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Soviet spies

Committee for State Security
CSS USSR
Комитет Государственной Безопасноти
КГБ СССР
Komitet Gosudarstvennoj Bezopasnosti
KGB SSSR
Emblema KGB.svg
RIAN archive 142949 Lubyanka Square in Moscow.jpg
Lubyanka Building in 1991
Agency overview
Formed 13 March 1954; 63 years ago (1954-03-13)
Preceding agencies
Dissolved 6 November 1991 (de facto)
3 December 1991 (de jure)
Superseding agency
Type State committee of union-republican jurisdiction
Jurisdiction Soviet Union
Headquarters Lubyanskaya ploshchad, 2, Moscow, Russian SFSR
Motto Loyalty to the party - Loyalty to motherland
Верность партии - Верность Родине
Agency executive
Parent agency Central Committee of the Party
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
Child agencies
  • First Chief Directorate (foreign intelligence)
  • Second Chief Directorate (internal security and counterintelligence)
  • Eighth Chief Directorate (ciphering and government communication)
  • Chief Directorate of Border Forces

The KGB, an initialism for Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Russian: Комите́т госуда́рственной безопа́сности (КГБ); IPA: [kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪnːəj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ], translated in English as Committee for State Security), was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. Formed in 1954, as a direct successor of such preceding agencies as the Cheka, NKGB, and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence, and secret police. Similar agencies were constituted in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russia and consisted of many ministries, state committees, and state commissions.

The KGB was a military service and was governed by army laws and regulations, similar to the Soviet Army or MVD Internal Troops. While most of the KGB archives remain classified, two online documentary sources are available. Its main functions were foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, operative-investigatory activities, guarding the State Border of the USSR, guarding the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, organization and ensuring of government communications as well as combating nationalism, dissent, and anti-Soviet activities.


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Wikipedia

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