December 20 marks the “Day of the employee of the security organs of the Russian Federation”
December 20, 2019 in Russia celebrate the professional holiday of security officials. Officially, the holiday is called "Day of the Worker of the Security Agencies of the Russian Federation," but the people call it more simply - "Day of the FSB." On this day, congratulations are received by employees of the bodies of the Federal Security Service, the Federal Security Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, as well as other special services of our country.
Officially, the holiday appeared in Russia in 1995 after the decree of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, in which he confirmed the official status on December 20 as the date of the celebration of the "Day of the security officer of the Russian Federation." During the Soviet Union, KGB Day or KGB Day was also celebrated, but it had an unofficial status.
Why was the date of December 20 chosen for the celebration of the KGB Day? The answer to this question is quite simple - on December 20, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a special document that proclaimed the creation of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission) to combat sabotage and counter-revolution. The initiative to create the Cheka was personally put forward by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who perfectly understood the need for a special structure that would ensure the security of the young Soviet state.
By the way, on December 20, 1958, a monument was opened in Moscow to the founder and first leader of the Cheka, Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, who became the symbol of the Soviet special services for many years.
The formation of the Soviet special services began with the Cheka, which lasted from 1917 to 1922. In 1922, the Cheka was transformed into the Main Political Administration (GPU), and after the formation of the USSR, the Joint Main Political Administration (OGPU) under the NKVD. It was in the 1920s and 1930s that the foundation was laid for the very structure of security agencies and its future divisions, which over the years turned into separate special services.
In 1934, the OGPU was transformed into the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) as part of the NKVD of the USSR. In this form, it existed until March 1941, when the NKVD was divided into the NKVD itself and the People’s Commissariat of State Security, which was to be responsible for the competence of the former GUGB, but in July of the same year, after the outbreak of war, they were reunited. In 1943, the division was again divided into the NKVD and the NKGB of the USSR. In 1946, the NKGB of the USSR was transformed into the Ministry of State Security (MGB) of the Soviet Union.
In 1954, the State Security Committee (KGB) was created under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the name of which is still frightening Western residents. The KGB lasted 36 years and ceased to exist together with the Soviet Union. The official date for the termination of the Soviet special services, one of the strongest in the world, was December 3, 1991.
After 1991, in the post-Soviet period, new, already Russian, special services — the FSB, the SVR and the FSO — were organized from the structure of the former KGB. All of them stand for the protection of the interests of the Russian Federation and carry out tasks within their competence.
Military Review congratulates all current and former (although there are no "former Chekists") security officials of Russia and the Soviet Union on their professional holiday. Honor and praise to those who serve the defense of state interests, eternal memory to those who gave their lives for Russia.
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