Okhranka
The
Okhrannoye otdeleniye (, meaning
Security Section or
Security Station), also the
Okhrana or
Tsarist Okhranka in Western sources, or diminutive
Okhranka by those dissatisfied with the
tsarist regime, was a
secret police force of the
Russian Empire and part of the (MVD) in late
1800s, aided by
Special Corps of Gendarmes.
As the name suggests, the primary purpose of the agency was the security of the
tsar and
royal family, including, but not limited to, fighting hostile organizations: terrorists ("bombists"), socialists, and revolutionaries. The Okhranka operated offices throughout the Russian Empire and in a number of foreign satellite agencies primarily concerned with monitoring the activities of Russian revolutionaries abroad, most notably in
Paris, where
Pyotr Rachkovsky was based (
1884"
1902). Its headquarters were located in
St. Petersburg, Fontanka, 16; this street address was infamously known in the Russian Empire.
The task was performed by any means, including covert operations, undercover agents, and "perlustration" " reading of private correspondence. Even the Foreign Agency served this purpose. The Okhranka is notoriously known for its
agents provocateurs " Dr.
Jacob Zhitomirsky (a leading
Bolshevik and close associate of
Vladimir Lenin),
Yevno Azef, and
Dmitry Bogrov. The Okhranka tried to compromise labour movement by creating police-run trade unions, the practice known as
zubatovshchina. Of note is the
Bloody Sunday event, when imperial guards killed hundreds of unarmed protesters who were marching during a demonstration organized by
Father Gapon, who collaborated with Okhranka, and
Pyotr Rutenberg.
Other controversial activities included fabrication of
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion hoax (many historians maintain that
Matvei Golovinski, a writer and Okhranka agent, compiled the first edition on the instructions of
Pyotr Rachkovsky) and fabrication of the
antisemitic Beilis trial.
Suspects captured by the Okhranka were given to the normal Russian judicial system, and then either executed or sent to forced labor camps known as
katorgas in extremely remote areas of northeastern
Siberia.
The first special security department was
Department on Securing the Order and Public Peace (Отделение по охранению порядка и общественного спокойствия) under the Head of
St. Petersburg, created in
1866 after a failed assassination attempt on
Alexander II, with a staff of 12 investigators. After another failed attempt, on
August 6,
1880 the Emperor, under proposals of
Count Loris-Melikov, created the
Department of State Police under and transferred both
Special Corps of Gendarmes and
Third Section of the
Imperial Chancellery to the new body; the
Chief of Gendarmes was merged with the Minister and
Commander of the Corps was assigned
Deputy of the Minister. Still, these measures did not prevent the assassination of Alexander II.
In an attempt to implement preventive security measures, Emperor
Alexander III immediately created two more
'Security and Investigation (охранно-розыскные) secret police stations, supervised by Gendarme officers, in
Moscow and
Warsaw; they became the basis of the later Okhranka. The Gendarmes still operated as security police in the rest of the country through their
Gubernial and
Uyezd Directorates. The Tsar also created Special Conference under the MVD (
1881), which had the right to declare a State of Emergency Security in various parts of the Empire (which was actively used in the time of
1905's Revolution), and subordinated all of the imperial police forces to the Commander of the Gendarmes (
1882).
The rise of the
Marxist movement called for integration of security forces. Since
1898, the
Special Section (Особый отдел) of the Department of Police succceded the Gendarmes in gaining information from domestic and foreign agents and "perlustration". Following the
SR assassination of MVD Minister
Sipyagin on
April 2,
1902, the new Minister
Plehve gradually relieved Directorates of Gendarmes of investigation power in favor of Security and Investigation Stations (Охранно-розыскное отделение) under respective Mayors and Governors (who as a matter of fact were subordinate to the MVD Minister).
Following the outbreak of the
1905 Revolution and assassination of
Pleve,
Pyotr Stolypin, as the new MVD Minister and Chairman of the Council of Ministers, created of nation-wide net of Security Stations. By 1908, there were 31 Stations and more than 60 by
1911. Two more Special Sections of the Department of Police were organized in
1906. The centralized
Security Section of the Department of Police was created on
February 9,
1907; it was located on 16, Fontanka, St. Petersburg.
The assassination of Stolypin and the
Azef case put the methods of the Okhranka under great suspicion; they were further compromised by discovering loads of similar
double agents-provocateur. In Autumn
1913, all of the Security Stations but original Moscow, St Petersburg and Warsaw were dismissed. The start of
World War I marked a shift from anti-revolutionary activities of the Department of Police to
counter-intelligence; however, the efforts of the Department were poorly synchronised with counter-intelligence units of the General Staff and the Army.
*
Ministry of Police of Imperial Russia*
Oprichniks, a force invested with special policing privileges that spread terror under tsar
Ivan the Terrible and might be seen as a forerunner of secret services in Russia.
*
Wilhelm Stieber,
Prussian master spy
* Charles A. Ruud, Sergei A. Stepanov;
Fontanka 16 " The Tsars' Secret Police; McGill-Queen's University Press (paperback, 2002) ISBN 0773524843
*
Political police and political terrorism in Russia (second half of XIX " beginning of XX). Сollection of documents. Compiled by VI Kochanov, NN Parfyonova, MV Sidorova, Ye. I. Sherbakova. Moscow, AIRO-XX (2000). ISBN 5-88735-079-2. (In Russian). [
1]
* [https://www.cia.gov/csi/kent_csi/docs/v10i3a06p_0001.htm Paris Okhrana 1885"1905]
CIA historical review program (Approved for release 22 September 1993)
*
Fontanka 16 book review* [https://www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/okhrana/5474-1.html Paris Operations of the Russian Imperial Police]
* Official history of the
MVD of Russia:
1857-1879 1880-1904 1905-1916 (in Russian)
