List of Chairmen of the KGB

Chairman of the Committee for State Security
Flag of the KGB commanders
Residence	Lubyanka Building
Precursor	None
Formation	30 December 1922
First holder	Felix Dzerzhinsky
Final holder	Vadim Bakatin
Abolished	22 October 1991

The Chairman of the KGB was the head of the Soviet KGB. He was assisted by one or two First Deputy Chairmen, and four to six Deputy Chairmen. And he was 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.

List

#	Name (birth–death)		Took office	Left office	Premier
1	Chairman of the Cheka (1917–1922)
	Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926)		20 December 1917	6 February 1922	Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924)
	Chairman of the GPU (1922–1934)
	Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926)		6 February 1922	20 July 1926	Vladimir Lenin (1917–1924) Alexey Rykov (1924–1930) Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
2	Vyacheslav Menzhinsky (1874–1934)	100px	30 July 1926	10 May 1934	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
3	People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1934–1941)
	Genrikh Yagoda (1891–1936)		10 July 1934	26 September 1936	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
4	Nikolai Yezhov (1885–1940)	100px	26 September 1936	25 November 1938	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
5	Lavrentiy Beriya (1899–1953)		25 November 1938	3 February 1941	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941)
6	People's Commissar for State Security (1941)
	Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	100px	3 February 1941	20 July 1941	Vyacheslav Molotov (1930–1941) Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
5	People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (1941–1943)
	Lavrentiy Beriya (1899–1953)		20 July 1941	14 April 1943	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
6	People's Commissar for State Security (1943–1946)
	Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1953)	100px	14 April 1943	15 March 1946	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
	Ministry of State Security (1946–1953)
	Vsevolod Merkulov (1895–1954)	100px	15 March 1946	18 March 1946	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
7	Viktor Abakumov (1908–1954)	—	18 March 1946	1951	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
8	Semyon Ignatyev (1904–1983)	—	1951	5 March 1953	Joseph Stalin (1941–1953)
5	Lavrentiy Beriya (1899–1953)		5 March 1953	26 June 1953	Georgy Malenkov (1953–1955)
9	Sergei Kruglov (1907–1977)	—	June 1953	13 March 1954	Georgy Malenkov (1953–1955)
10	Chairman of the Committee for State Security (1953–1991)
	Ivan Serov (1905–1990)	—	13 March 1954	8 December 1958	Georgy Malenkov (1953–1955) Nikolai Bulganin (1955–1958) Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964)
11	Alexander Shelepin (1918–1994)	—	25 December 1958	13 November 1961	Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964)
12	Vladimir Semichastny (1924–2001)	100px	13 November 1961	18 May 1967	Nikita Khrushchev (1958–1964) Alexei Kosygin (1964–1980)
13	Yuri Andropov (1914–1984)		18 May 1967	26 May 1982	Alexei Kosygin (1964–1980) Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985)
14	Vitaly Fedorchuk (1918–2008)	—	26 May 1982	17 December 1982	Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985)
15	Viktor Chebrikov (1923–1999)	—	17 December 1982	1 October 1988	Nikolai Tikhonov (1980–1985) Nikolai Ryzhkov (1985–1991)
16	Vladimir Kryuchkov (1924–2007)	—	1 October 1988	22 August 1991	Nikolai Ryzhkov (1985–1991) Valentin Pavlov (1991)
-	Leonid Shebarshin (interim) (1935–2012)	—	22 August 1991	23 August 1991
17	Vadim Bakatin (born 1937)	—	23 August 1991	22 October 1991	Ivan Silayev (1991)

See also

• Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies
• Directors of the FSK
• Directors of the FSB

Sources

• Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7 Basic Books (1999), hardcover, ISBN 0-465-00310-9; trade paperback (September, 2000), ISBN 0-465-00312-5
• John Barron, "KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents",Reader's Digest Press (1974), ISBN 0-88349-009-9
• 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 ISBN 0-465-00311-7

Further reading

• Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia – Past, Present, and Future. Farrar Straus Giroux (1994) ISBN 0-374-52738-5.
• John Barron. KGB: The Secret Works Of Soviet Secret Agents. Bantam Books (1981) ISBN 0-553-23275-4
• Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) ISBN 0-8133-4280-5 (describes a secret KGB lab engaged in development and testing of poisons)
• John Dziak, Chekisty: A History of the KGB, Lexington Books (1988) ISBN 978-0-669-10258-1
• Бережков, Василий Иванович (2004). Руководители Ленинградского управления КГБ : 1954-1991. Санкт-Петербург: Выбор, 2004. ISBN 5-93518-035-9 (in Russian)

External links

• KGB Information Center from FAS.org
• Chebrikov, Viktor M., et al., eds. Istoriya sovetskikh organov gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti. (1977) [1]
• Slaves of KGB. 20th Century. The religion of betrayal (Russian) - book by Yuri Shchekochikhin