Day of the Russian military counterintelligence. Reference. Day of military counterintelligence Happy holiday, military counterintelligence

Seizure of secret information, objects, persons who own state secrets - all this is of interest to various states. To ensure security and to combat intelligence, Russia's military counterintelligence was created. This professional holiday is dedicated to employees who stop various subversive activities against their state.

When they celebrate

Who is celebrating

This is a professional holiday not only for military counterintelligence officers, but also for all other workers related to this service.

history of the holiday

On December 19, 1918, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) ratified a resolution on the unification of the front-line and army Chekas with the military control bodies and on the formation of a Special Department of the Cheka (All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. It was a new anti-espionage body. It was this day that became the date of this professional holiday.

About the profession

Military counterintelligence officers work in close contact with the military prosecutor's office and other bodies. They carry out operations to detect and eliminate the intelligence of foreign special services, various extremist and terrorist groups, fight drug trafficking and the illegal sale of weapons. In addition, these specialists provide assistance in improving and checking the combat readiness of units.

It is quite difficult to get into the ranks of military counterintelligence officers, since there is only contract service here. A spotless biography, excellent physical data and theoretical training will be only the first step of several. It is also necessary to complete a special educational institution, which is under the jurisdiction of the FSB of Russia, and undergo the most severe selection. A military counterintelligence officer must be a psychologist and have an analytical mindset, possess combat skills, prudence, originality of thought, and many other qualities.

The head of the Smersh GUKR was General Abakumov, who "beat" German intelligence during the Second World War. Despite this, in 1951 he was accused of high treason, taken into custody and shot.

During the Second World War, Smersh employees exposed a little more than 30 thousand spies, 6 thousand terrorists and 3.5 thousand saboteurs.

The progenitor of military counterintelligence is Adjutant General A. Kuropatkin, who on January 20, 1903 expressed his thoughts about it to Emperor Nicholas II.

December 19 at Russian Federation Day of military counterintelligence is celebrated. This structure is engaged in activities that are very important for the security of the country and the armed forces: “specialists” identify individuals who cooperate with foreign intelligence services, fight terrorism, crime and corruption, drug addiction and other deviant phenomena in the army ranks. The current date for the Russian military counterintelligence has great importance- 99 years have passed since the creation on December 19, 1918, of special departments within the Cheka of the RSFSR. Almost a century has passed, but military counterintelligence officers are still colloquially called "specialists".

The path of military counterintelligence in Russia was thorny and difficult. This service has repeatedly changed its name, has undergone various organizational changes, but the essence of its work remained unchanged. Despite the fact that the first departments involved in counterintelligence in the army appeared in Russian Empire in 1911, the true development of military counterintelligence in our country is entirely connected with Soviet period national history. The revolution needed protection, and the Soviet authorities took care of the organization of structures capable of fighting saboteurs and spies already in 1918. First, the Military Department of the Cheka and the Military Control were created. A certain number of tsarist officers who had previously served in the counterintelligence departments of the army were recruited into the Military Control.

However, the duality in the system of organizing the management of counterintelligence did not contribute to its effectiveness. A proposal to eliminate duality was made by Viktor Eduardovich Kingisepp, an old Bolshevik, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, seconded to the Cheka. Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky heeded Kingisepp's arguments. Already in December 1918. A Special Department of the Cheka was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

Mikhail Sergeevich Kedrov became the first head of the Special Department of the Cheka. A Bolshevik with solid pre-revolutionary experience, Kedrov was included in the board of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the RSFSR back in November 1917, becoming the commissar for the demobilization of the Russian army. In September 1918, Kedrov headed the Military Department of the Cheka, so there was nothing surprising in the fact that he was entrusted with the leadership of the military counterintelligence agencies. On January 1, 1919, Kedrov issued an order ordering the merger of the Military Departments of the Cheka and Military Control within the Special Department of the Cheka. The duality of the military counterintelligence system was eliminated.

The most reliable personnel were sent to serve in special departments, preference was given to proven communists. The first congress of employees of special departments even adopted a special resolution in which it emphasized that the requirements for party seniority for Chekists should be higher than for other Soviet party, military and government employees. In 1919, the chairman of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, became the head of the Special Department of the Cheka concurrently. Thus, he took over the direct leadership of the military counterintelligence agencies. Special departments of the Cheka played a crucial role in the fight against spies and saboteurs in the years civil war. During the Civil War, counterintelligence officers eliminated a large number of conspiracies in which opponents participated. Soviet power.

An interesting episode in the history of military counterintelligence is the transfer of duties to the Special Department of the Cheka to protect the state border of the RSFSR, which followed in November 1920.

From July 1920 to July 1922 The special department of the Cheka was headed by Vyacheslav Rudolfovich Menzhinsky, who then replaced Dzerzhinsky as head of the OGPU. In January 1922, the Secret Operations Directorate (SOU) was created, which in July 1922 was divided into two departments - counterintelligence, responsible for general counterintelligence in the country and the fight against counterrevolutionary organizations, and a special one, responsible for counterintelligence work in the army and in the navy. It was in the 1920s-1930s that the military counterintelligence agencies were further strengthened. In 1934, the Special Department became part of the Main Directorate state security(GUGB) of the NKVD of the USSR as the 5th department (since 1936), and in 1938, after the abolition of the GUGB, the 2nd Directorate of special departments of the NKVD of the USSR was created on the basis of the 5th department. However, in 1938, at the initiative of Lavrenty Beria, the Main Directorate of State Security was recreated. In its composition, the 4th Special Department of the GUGB, which is responsible for military counterintelligence, was also revived.

The Great Patriotic War became the most serious test for military counterintelligence officers. In 1941, the Directorate of Special Departments was recreated, which included the 3rd Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR and the Special Department of the NKVD of the USSR. On April 19, 1943, the legendary SMERSH Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR was created by a decree of the USSR State Defense Committee.

The slogan "Death to spies!" was chosen as its name. SMERSH reported directly to People's Commissar of Defense Joseph Stalin, and Viktor Semenovich Abakumov, who had previously held the position of deputy, was appointed head of SMERSH People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR and head of the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR, and before that he headed the Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR for the Rostov Region. In addition to the GUKR "SMERSH" of the People's Commissariat of Defense, its own SMERSH department was created in the People's Commissariat of the USSR Navy, and the SMERSH department was created in the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR under the leadership of Semyon Yukhimovich. For better secrecy, all SMERSH operatives were ordered to wear the uniform of the troops in which they served.

The SMERSH bodies were entrusted with the responsibility of combating spies of enemy intelligence, the fight against desertion and deliberate self-mutilation at the front, with abuse commanders, with war crimes. The very abbreviation SMERSH terrified not only the enemy, but also criminals and offenders in the ranks of the Red Army, deserters and traitors of all stripes. As the occupied territories are liberated Soviet Union, the SMERSH authorities also began to clarify the events that took place during the occupation, including identifying persons who collaborated with the Nazi occupation authorities. It was the SMERSH organs that played leading role in the identification and detention of many war criminals - policemen, punishers and their accomplices from among Soviet citizens. Today, in some publications, SMERSH organs are shown exclusively as ruthless "punishers" who allegedly shot their own soldiers in the back and persecuted Soviet military personnel for the smallest violations, sometimes on trumped-up charges.

Of course, in the activities of SMERSH, like any other structure, there were mistakes and excesses, and, given the specifics, these mistakes could lead to broken destinies and cost someone their life. But blaming the entire SMERSH for these mistakes and even crimes is unacceptable. The Smershevites with weapons in their hands fought against the Nazi invaders, policemen, collaborators, participated in the liquidation of gangs of criminals and deserters who operated in forests, in rural areas and liberated cities. The contribution of SMERSH to the restoration of Soviet power, law and order in the liberated territories of the Soviet Union is invaluable. Many employees of counterintelligence "SMERSH" died in battles with the enemy, fell in the line of duty in the rear. For example, during the battles for the liberation of Belarus, 236 SMERSH employees were killed and another 136 employees went missing. SMERSH operatives served on average for three to four months, after which they dropped out due to death on a combat mission or due to a wound. SMERSH employees Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Anfimovich Zhidkov, Lieutenant Grigory Mikhailovich Kravtsov, Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Krygin, Lieutenant Vasily Mikhailovich Chebotarev were posthumously awarded the high title of Heroes of the Soviet Union. But a lot of Smershevites did not receive gold stars, although they fully deserved them - the authorities were not particularly generous with awards to counterintelligence officers.

Group photo of soldiers and officers of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the USSR of the 70th army in Berlin

After defeating Nazi Germany counterintelligence "SMERSH" was engaged in the study and filtering of soldiers and officers returning from German captivity. In May 1946, the SMERSH bodies were disbanded, special departments were revived on their basis, transferred to the jurisdiction of the USSR Ministry of State Security. Subsequently, special departments retained their functions as part of the USSR State Security Committee. On March 18, 1954, the Third Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was created as part of the KGB, which was responsible for military counterintelligence and the activities of special departments. From 1960 to 1982 it was called the Third Directorate, and in 1982 the status of the Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was returned. Special departments were created in all military districts and fleets. In the Soviet troops stationed outside the country, the Directorates of Special Departments of the GSVG (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany), SGV (Northern Group of Forces in Poland), TsGV (Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia), YuGV (Southern Group of Forces in Hungary) were created. A separate Directorate of Special Departments operated in Rocket troops strategic purpose, and in 1983 the Directorate of Special Departments was created, which was responsible for counterintelligence work in the Internal Troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

February 1974 to July 14, 1987 The Third Directorate was headed by Lieutenant General (since 1985 - Colonel General) Nikolai Alekseevich Dushin (1921-2001). He joined the Red Army in 1940, after graduating from the Stalingrad Military-Political School he served as a company political instructor, commander of a rifle company on the Far Eastern Front, and in 1943 he was transferred to the SMERSH military counterintelligence agencies. Nikolai Dushin served in the structures of military counterintelligence all his life - he devoted almost half a century to special departments. From December 1960 to June 1964, Nikolai Alekseevich headed the Directorate of Special Departments for the GSVG, then from June 1964 to August 1970. was the head of the 1st department of the Third Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. In 1987, Dushin was removed from his post - allegedly in connection with the revealed violations of the work of special departments in military units on Far East. In fact, apparently, the 66-year-old Colonel General fell under the unfolding flywheel of "cleansing" the state security agencies and the armed forces of the USSR from patriots - communists. Recall that it was in 1987-1989. the “liberation” of the Soviet power structures from the "old cadres" of the Stalinist call, in which M.S. Gorbachev and his entourage could see the danger to their plans for "perestroika" and the collapse of the Soviet state.

IN Soviet time"specialists" worked in every major military unit Soviet army And Navy. In peaceful conditions, they were entrusted with the duty of monitoring the moral, psychological and ideological situation in military collectives. Military counterintelligence officers played a very important role during the participation of the Soviet Union in the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Many employees of military counterintelligence went through the Afghan war, participated in hostilities, in secret operations against the Mujahideen. These skills were useful to them and the younger generation of military counterintelligence officers already in the post-Soviet era, when former USSR a number of armed conflicts broke out.

Many people today know the name of Admiral German Alekseevich Ugryumov - Hero of the Russian Federation. Ship named after German Ugryumov Caspian flotilla(in which the officer began his service), streets in Astrakhan, Vladivostok, Grozny. A native of the military counterintelligence of the Navy, in which he served from 1975 to 1998, in the late 1990s German Ugryumov joined the central apparatus of the FSB of the Russian Federation - to the post of first deputy head of the military counterintelligence department of the FSB of the Russian Federation, led the activities of the military counterintelligence of the Russian Navy. In November 1999, German Ugryumov headed the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism of the FSB of the Russian Federation. He planned and developed numerous operations to combat terrorists in the North Caucasus, and on January 21, 2001, Vice Admiral Ugryumov was simultaneously appointed head of the Regional Operational Headquarters in the North Caucasus. Unfortunately, on May 31, 2001, at only the age of 52, German Ugryumov died suddenly in his office on the territory of the headquarters of the Russian military group in the village of Khankala (Chechen Republic).

Today, employees of the military counterintelligence agencies, no matter how society treats them, continue to carry out their difficult and dangerous service to protect the national security of the Russian state. On this significant day for them, it remains only to congratulate the military counterintelligence officers and service veterans on the holiday, to wish them more success and fewer losses.

December 19 is the day of military counterintelligence in Russia. The date was chosen due to the fact that on this day in 1918 in Soviet Russia a special department appears, which later becomes part of the military counterintelligence of the GPU. Special departments of military counterintelligence were created on the basis of the decision of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). According to this decree, the army Chekas were united with military control bodies, and as a result, a Special Department of the Cheka was formed under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.

The system was constantly improved, and over time, special departments of fronts, districts and other military formations became part of a unified system of state security organs in the troops.

Military counterintelligence initially set itself the task of identifying provocateurs operating in the ranks of the army, as they said at that time - "counters", agents of foreign intelligence who ended up in various military positions in the army of Soviet Russia. Due to the fact that in 1918 the army of the new post-revolutionary state was just being formed, the military counterintelligence officers had more than enough work to do. The work was complicated by the fact that the military counterintelligence system itself was actually written from scratch, since it was decided to neglect the existing experience of pre-revolutionary Russia in terms of counteracting destructive elements in the army. As a result, the formation and structuring of a special department went through numerous thorns and left its mark on the effectiveness of certain stages in the creation of a monolithic Red Army.

However, as a result of carrying out a truly gigantic amount of work, primarily on the selection of personnel, the effective activities of military counterintelligence were debugged, and in some respects debugged, as they say, to the smallest detail.

Operational officers of special departments (special officers) were attached to military units and formations (depending on rank). At the same time, the special officers had to wear the uniform of the unit to which they were "assigned". What official range of tasks was assigned to operational officers of military counterintelligence at the initial stage of its existence?

In addition to monitoring the morale of the military personnel of the unit and their political views, military counterintelligence officers were tasked with identifying counter-revolutionary cells and persons engaged in destructive agitation. The special officers were supposed to identify persons who were engaged in the preparation of sabotage as part of the Red Army units, espionage in favor of certain states, and showed terrorist activity.

A separate function of representatives of special departments was to conduct investigative work on crimes against statehood with the transfer of cases to military tribunals.

Memories of participants in the Great Patriotic War regarding the activities of representatives of military counterintelligence, it is difficult to call them exclusively positive. In wartime conditions, outright excesses also occurred, when military personnel fell under the tribunal, who were charged with counter-revolutionary activities, for example, for improperly winding footcloths, as a result of which the fighter rubbed his legs to monstrous wounds during foot marches and lost the ability to move as part of the unit during the offensive / retreat. For modern lovers of picking, in such cases they are a truly tasty morsel, with which you can once again spin the flywheel of "human rights activities" and publish another "profound work" about the Stalinist repressive machine. In fact, excesses and unfair decisions are by no means what can be called a trend in the actions of professional military counterintelligence officers.

The trend is that with the help of representatives of special departments, entire networks of enemy agents were really revealed, who acted under the guise of officer epaulettes and not only. Thanks to the activities of military counterintelligence officers, it was often possible to raise the morale of the unit at a time when the fighters were panicked and intended to randomly leave their positions, jeopardizing the conduct of a particular operation. Many cases were noted during the Great Patriotic War, when it was the employees of special departments who led the units (although this function certainly was not part of the responsibilities of military counterintelligence employees), for example, in the event of the death of the commander. And they were by no means led behind the backs of the soldiers, as adherents of "free history" sometimes like to assert.

Since the Great Patriotic War, the name of the SMERSH counterintelligence organizations has been heard, which got its name from the abbreviation of the phrase “death to spies”. The Main Directorate of Counterintelligence, established on April 19, 1943, was directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin.

The need to create such a structure was argued by the fact that the Red Army began to liberate the territories occupied by the Nazis, where accomplices of the Nazi troops could (and remained) remain. SMERSH fighters have hundreds of successful operations on their account. A whole line of activity is counteracting Bandera gangs operating on the territory of Western Ukraine.

Viktor Semenovich Abakumov, who after the end of World War II was appointed to the post of Minister of State Security, headed the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence SMERSH. In 1951, he was arrested on charges of "high treason and a Zionist conspiracy", and on December 19, 1954, he was shot on a modified charge of fabricating the so-called "Leningrad case" as part of, as they said then, "Beria's gang." In 1997, Viktor Abakumov was partially rehabilitated by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

Today, the military counterintelligence department operates as part of the Russian Federal Security Service. The department is headed by Colonel-General Alexander Bezverkhny.

The tasks of military counterintelligence today are inextricably linked with the identification of destructive elements in the ranks of units. Russian army, including those who, in violation of statutory requirements and Russian law, have contacts with representatives of foreign intelligence agencies and organizations supervised by foreign intelligence services and their derivatives that negatively affect the combat capability or information security of units and formations. This includes activities to identify individuals who publicly publish secret information about new weapons, as well as personal data of Russian military personnel participating in various types of operations, including the anti-terrorist operation in Syria. This, at first glance, invisible work is one of the foundations for the security of the state and the improvement of the combat capability of the Russian army.

Happy holiday, military counterintelligence!

On December 19, Russia celebrates the day of the formation of military counterintelligence. On this day in 1918, the Special Department of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (VChK) was created - the military counterintelligence body of the Soviet state.

Military counterintelligence - activities carried out by special bodies to protect the Armed Forces and other troops from foreign bodies; an integral part of the counterintelligence of the state. In the Russian Federation, it is represented by security agencies in the troops, which are part of single system bodies of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Work on counterintelligence support of the armed forces in the Russian Empire was carried out from the moment the regular army was formed, that is, from early XVIII century. It consisted in searching for enemy spies, disclosing possible defectors and traitors in its ranks, and disinforming the enemy. As an independent structure, military counterintelligence first appeared in Russia only before the Patriotic War of 1812, when the Supreme Military Police was created. It was entrusted with the functions of counterintelligence in the army. In 1815 the highest military police was abolished. The prototype of modern military counterintelligence arose in Russia in January 1903, when the Intelligence Department was created at the General Staff, designed to combat foreign intelligence.

Later, in 1911, special counterintelligence departments were created at the headquarters of the military districts. During the First World War, the military counterintelligence of the Russian army consisted of the counterintelligence departments of the headquarters of the internal military districts, led by the counterintelligence part of the General Staff, and similar departments of the headquarters of the armies and fronts. The leadership of the counterintelligence of the active army was concentrated in the counterintelligence unit of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

In Soviet Russia, counterintelligence activities were initially carried out by the scattered bodies of the Military Control, created by the Revolutionary Military Council, as well as the Extraordinary Commissions (Cheka) for the fight against counter-revolution, formed by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR at the fronts.

On December 19, 1918, by a decree of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), the front and army Chekas were merged with the military control bodies, and on their basis a new body was formed - the Special Department of the Cheka under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR. This day is traditionally celebrated as a professional holiday for employees of the military counterintelligence agencies of the Federal Security Service of Russia.

Later, with the formation of special departments of the fronts, military districts, fleets, armies, flotillas and special departments under the provincial Cheka, a unified centralized system of security agencies in the troops was created.

From the very first days, special departments have always carried out their activities in close cooperation with the military command. This approach to organizing the activities of military counterintelligence later became one of the fundamental principles of their work. At the same time, another principle of military counterintelligence was born, the significance of which has never been questioned by anyone: close ties with the personnel of military units, employees of military facilities, headquarters and institutions that are in operational support of the security agencies in the troops.

The organs of military counterintelligence largely contributed to the victories of the Red Army during the civil war.

The Great Patriotic War became a serious test for military counterintelligence officers. On April 19, 1943, by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the People's Commissariat of Defense "Smersh" ("Death to Spies") was formed. He, among the paramount ones, was entrusted with the task of combating espionage, sabotage, terrorist activities of foreign intelligence services and taking measures together with the command to exclude the possibility of enemy agents passing through the front line with impunity. Thanks to well-established work behind the front, army security officers often had detailed information about enemy agents even during their training in intelligence schools.
The Smersh authorities detected 1103 enemy agents. In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, military counterintelligence officers neutralized more than 30 thousand spies, about 3.5 thousand saboteurs and over six thousand terrorists.

Military counterintelligence showed superiority in a fierce battle with the German secret services and made a significant contribution to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

More than six thousand army Chekists died during the war. For exemplary performance of tasks, thousands of military counterintelligence officers were awarded orders and medals, and military counterintelligence officers Petr Zhidkov, Grigory Kravtsov, Mikhail Krygin and Vasily Chebotarev were awarded high rank Hero of the Soviet Union.

After the war, the main opponents of military counterintelligence were the intelligence services of the United States, Great Britain and West Germany, the leading NATO states.

In June 1946, the military counterintelligence agencies were transformed into special departments and transferred to the USSR Ministry of State Security (since 1954 - the USSR State Security Committee).

Since the second half of 1991, the country's state security agencies have entered a period of large-scale reform. The military counterintelligence department was part of the system of Russian security agencies under various names.

On August 4, 2004, military counterintelligence was transformed into the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the FSB of Russia, to which the FSB departments and departments for military districts and fleets, internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other troops and military formations are subordinate.

The head of the department is Colonel-General Alexander Bezverkhny.

The tasks of military counterintelligence, as well as the appointment, composition, legal framework, principles and areas of activity, powers, forces and means are defined by the law "On the Federal Security Service" of April 3, 1995, with appropriate amendments and additions, as well as the "Regulations on the Directorates (Departments) of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation , other troops, military formations and bodies (security agencies in the troops)", approved by decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 7, 2000.

The main tasks of military counterintelligence in Russia are: timely detection and suppression of reconnaissance and subversive activities of foreign intelligence services, as well as criminal actions of hostile elements to weaken the combat power of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation; prevention of crimes in the army and navy, inquiries in criminal cases falling within the competence of state security agencies; assistance to the command in maintaining the combat readiness of the troops (forces) and the vigilance of the personnel.

Many military counterintelligence officers had a chance to fulfill their military duty abroad, including in Afghanistan, where they provided security for a limited contingent of Soviet troops.

The combat readiness of the military Chekists was also confirmed in the course of their participation in the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. Repeatedly, military counterintelligence officers participated in the implementation of special operations, withdrew personnel from the encirclement and did everything possible to reduce losses among soldiers and officers.

The activities of military counterintelligence agencies are not limited to combat zones. They carry out constant work to identify and neutralize intelligence and other subversive aspirations of foreign special services, foreign extremist organizations against Russian troops, fight against illegal trafficking in weapons and drugs, and assist the command in increasing the combat readiness of formations and units.

Also, counterintelligence agencies counteract organized crime, prevent manifestations of extremism and prevent terrorist threats.

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