MGB
intelligence agency
| MGB link () | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | MGB |
| Formation | 1946 |
| Extinction | 1953 |
| Soviet intelligence agency responsible for foreign intelligence operations, surveillance and state security (1946–1953) | |
The Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti or Ministry of State Security (MGB) was a security and intelligence agency of the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1953.
The MGB inherited the intelligence and state security responsibilities of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB). It was heavily involved in political repression and the enforcement of state security.[1]
The MGB was led by Viktor Abakumov from 1946 to 1951, then by Semyon Ignatiev until Stalin's death in 1953, upon which it was merged into an enlarged Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). The merger was orchestrated by Lavrenty Beria, who was then arrested and executed in December 1953.
Thereafter, the KGB took on the mantle of the NKGB/MGB and, in 1954, broke off from the reformed MVD.[2]