secret office- body of political investigation and court in Russia in the XVIII century. In the early years, it existed in parallel with Transfiguration order performing similar functions. Abolished in a year, restored in a year as Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs; the latter was liquidated in the year by Peter III, however, instead of it in the same year, Catherine II established Secret expedition playing the same role. Finally abolished by Alexander I.
Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Secret Office
Base Preobrazhensky order refers to the beginning of the reign of Peter I (established in the year in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow); at first he represented the clan of the special office of the sovereign, created to manage the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments. Used by Peter as a political body in the struggle for power with Princess Sophia. The name "Preobrazhensky Prikaz" has been in use since the year; since that time, he has been in charge of the protection of public order in Moscow and the most significant court cases. However, in the decree of the year, instead of the “Preobrazhensky order”, the moving out hut in Preobrazhensky and the general courtyard in Preobrazhensky are called. In addition to managing the first guards regiments, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz was given the responsibility to manage the sale of tobacco, and in the year it was ordered to send to the order everyone who would speak for themselves. "The word and deed of the sovereign"(that is, to accuse someone of a state crime). The Preobrazhensky Prikaz was under the direct jurisdiction of the tsar and was managed by Prince F. Yu. Romodanovsky (until 1717; after the death of F. Yu. Romodanovsky - by his son I. F. Romodanovsky). Subsequently, the order received the exclusive right to conduct cases of political crimes, or, as they were then called, "against the first two points." Since 1725, the secret office also dealt with criminal cases, which were in charge of A.I. Ushakov. But with a small number of people (under his command there were no more than ten people, nicknamed forwarders of the secret office), such a department could not cover all criminal cases. Under the then procedure for investigating these crimes, convicts convicted of any criminal offense could optionally extend their process by saying "word and deed" and having committed a denunciation; they immediately climbed into the Preobrazhensky order along with those who were slandered, and very often people who had not committed any crime were slandered, but on whom the scammers had anger. The main activity of the order is the persecution of participants in anti-serfdom demonstrations (about 70% of all cases) and opponents of the political transformations of Peter I.
Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs
Central government agency. After the dissolution of the Secret Office in 1726, it resumed work as the Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs in 1731 under the leadership of A. I. Ushakov. The competence of the office included the investigation of the crime of the “first two points” of state crimes (they meant “The word and deed of the sovereign.” The 1st point determined “if someone teaches some fabrications to think of an evil deed or person and honor on the imperial health with evil and harmful words vilify", and the 2nd spoke "of rebellion and treason"). The main instrument of the investigation was torture and interrogation with "addiction". The great popularity of the secret office was acquired during the years of the Bironovshchina. Anna Ioannovna was afraid of a conspiracy. About 4046 people were arrested and tortured, about 1055 cases were considered in the dungeons of this department. 1450 cases remained unexamined. The Secret Chancellery investigated such high-profile cases in the "Verkhovnikov's Venture", and in 1739 in the case of Volynsky. With the death of Anna Ioannovna, the secret office was left to find an accusation for Biron. The Secret Chancellery had lost its former influence and was in danger of closing. At the end of November 1741, Ushakov, who was in charge of this body, knew the plot, but decided not to interfere with the conspirators, for which he was not removed from office. With the coming to power of Peter's daughter, the secret office gained popularity again. Positions such as spy, who recorded and eavesdropped on important conversations or followed spies. In 1746, Shuvalov became the head of the Secret Chancellery. During his leadership, the closest friends and associates of Elizabeth Petrovna fell into disgrace: Shetardie (1744), Lestok (1744 and 1748), Apraksin and Bestuzhev (1758).
It was abolished by the manifesto of Emperor Peter III (1762), at the same time the "Word and deed of the sovereign" was prohibited.
Peter and Paul Fortress - the place where the Secret Chancellery was located.
Secret expedition
The successor of the Secret Chancellery was Secret expedition under the Senate - the central state institution in the Russian Empire, the body of political investigation (1762-1801). Formally, the institution was headed by the Prosecutor General of the Senate, but in fact all affairs were in charge of the chief secretary S. I. Sheshkovsky. The secret expedition investigated the conspiracy of V. Mirovich, carried out the criminal prosecution of A. N. Radishchev, oversaw the trial of E. I. Pugachev. Torture, banned under Peter III, again came into wide use. After the accession of Alexander I, the functions of the Secret Expedition were redistributed between the first and fifth Senate departments.
Heads of the Secret Office
| № | Full name (years of life) |
Portrait | Lead time | Monarch | Deputy | jointly | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preobrazhensky order (1686 -1730) | |||||||
| 1 | Romodanovsky Fedor Yurievich (c.1640 - 1717) |
 |
(1686 - 1717) | Peter I | unknown | Prince Romodanovsky died at an advanced age, on September 17, 1717; buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. | |
| 2 | Romodanovsky Ivan Fedorovich (1670s - 1730) |
(1717 - 1729) | Peter I, Catherine I, Peter II. | unknown | With Tolstoy (1718 - 1726). | The senator, Prince Caesar, together with Tolstoy, investigated the "case of Tsarevich Alexei", the son of the previous one. | |
| Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs (1717 - 1726) - I period | |||||||
| 3 | Tolstoy Pyotr Andreevich |  |
(1718 - 1726) | Peter I, Catherine I. | Ushakov, Andrei Ivanovich (1718 - 1726) | With Romodanovsky (1718 - 1726) | The count, a member of the Supreme Privy Council, together with Romodanovsky investigated the "case of Tsarevich Alexei", from 1727 in disgrace. |
| Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs (1731 - 1762) - II period | |||||||
| 4 | Ushakov Andrey Ivanovich |  |
(1731 - 1746) | Anna Ioannovna, Ivan VI, Elizaveta Petrovna | Shuvalov, Alexander Ivanovich (1742 - 1746) | Count, Russian military and statesman, associate of Peter I, general-in-chief. | |
| 5 | Shuvalov Alexander Ivanovich |  |
(1746 - December 28, 1761) | Elizaveta Petrovna, Peter III | unknown | Count, confidant of Elizabeth Petrovna and especially Peter III, chamberlain, field marshal general, senator, member of the St. Petersburg Conference. Brother of Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov and cousin of Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, favorite of Elizaveta Petrovna. | |
| Secret expedition under the Senate (1762 - 1801) | |||||||
| 6 | Sheshkovsky Stepan Ivanovich |  |
(1762 - 1794) | Catherine II | unknown | With the Prosecutor General of the Senate: Glebov (1761 - 1764), Vyazemsky (1764 - 1792), Samoilov (1792 - 1794). | Privy Councilor, led the investigation into the case of Pugachev, Mirovich, Radishchev. |
| 7 | Makarov Alexander Semyonovich | (1794 - 1801) | Catherine II, Paul I | unknown | With the Prosecutor General of the Senate: Samoilov (1794 - 1796), Kurakin (1796 - 1798), Lopukhin, Pyotr Vasilyevich | Russian statesman, privy councillor, nobleman. | |
To the cinema
- In the miniseries Midshipmen Go! , which was released in 1988, shows the work of the Secret Office. One of the main characters of the film - Vasily Lyadashchev (Alexander Abdulov) was an agent of the Secret Office.
- In 2012, the Rossiya TV channel showed the mini-series Notes of the Expeditor of the Secret Office. Among the historical films and serials there are prominent persons of the Secret Chancellery, mainly Ushakov and Tolstoy.
Photos from open sources
300 years ago, the Secret Chancellery was created, a special service dealing with issues of the country's internal security. It and the Preobrazhensky Prikaz are the origins of modern Russian state security institutions.
For the first time in Russian history, the expression "Secret Chancellery" was applied by Tsar Peter I to a four-person commission investigating the conspiracy case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich.
The Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs was established in Moscow in February 1718 as a temporary commission of inquiry, but already in March of the same year, after moving to St. Petersburg, to the Peter and Paul Fortress, it was transformed into a permanent department. She had to figure out a difficult issue: Tsarevich Alexei was under suspicion of plotting against the Russian monarch. The investigation into the case of the prince was conducted by Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, who managed to find the fugitive abroad and return him to Russia. Tolstoy and became the first minister of the Secret Chancellery.
After the completion of the case of Tsarevich Alexy, Tsar Peter did not abolish the organization, but transferred to it part of the functions of the Preobrazhensky order, which also dealt with issues of internal security. Thus, in Russia there were two parallel structures that had similar functional responsibilities, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz in Moscow and the Secret Chancellery in St. Petersburg. Since it was more convenient for the tsar, who was in the new capital, to keep track of the cases that fell under the jurisdiction of the Secret Chancellery, he came to the Peter and Paul Fortress weekly, carefully studied the cases, and often attended interrogations.
The investigation was conducted only by the most reliable and proven people who enjoyed the special confidence of the sovereign. Prior to the reign of Alexander II, archival materials on the political processes that took place in the Secret Chancellery were virtually inaccessible to historians.
In addition to cases of national importance, the chancellery considered many completely insignificant cases. For example, gossip that was circulating among the people, in which the name of royalty was mixed up. It was enough for someone to publicly shout:
“I know the word and deed of the sovereign!”, which meant that the person was ready to talk about the crime against the person of the sovereign - the most serious state crime, as the suspects immediately found themselves in dungeons. Here they were subjected to interrogation and the most severe tortures - rack, whip, burning with fire and other tortures.
Often the case was not of particular importance, but rarely anyone came out of the dungeons: under torture, most people were ready to confess to any crimes or slander innocent people. Of course, this approach gave rise to many abuses and created an atmosphere of fear in society.
For quite a long time, the Secret Office was an absolutely independent organization. However, in 1724, Peter ordered that the affairs of the office be handed over to the Senate, apparently intending to turn it into one of the Senate offices. Due to the death of the king, this reform was incomplete. Subsequently, the functions of the Secret Chancellery were transferred to the Preobrazhensky Prikaz and the Supreme Privy Council. Under Anna Ioannovna, instead of the Secret Office, the Office of Secret Investigation Affairs was created, and after its abolition in 1762, the Secret Expedition of the Senate.
It should be noted that with the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna, known for the fact that she practically abolished the death penalty, humanization is observed in Russian legislation, the legal grounds for the use of torture are minimized, and under Alexander I, who called it “shame and reproach to humanity”, they are finally abolished.
On March 6, 1762, Peter III abolished the Secret Office - the first secret service in Russian history. It was called the "Russian Inquisition", even those who refused to drink to the health of the monarch fell under its jurisdiction.
On my own blood
In January 1718, Tsar Peter I was waiting for the return of the prodigal son Alexei, who had fled to Austrian possessions. Departing from Naples to St. Petersburg, Alexey thanked his father for the promised "forgiveness". But the sovereign could not endanger his empire, even for the sake of the well-being of his own son. Even before the return of the prince to Russia, the Secret Office of Investigative Affairs was created specifically for the case of Alexei, which was supposed to conduct an inquiry about his "treason".
After the completion of the case of Alexei, which led to the death of the heir, the Secret Chancellery, unlike the "major's offices", was not liquidated, but became one of the most important state bodies subordinated personally to the monarch. On November 25, 1718, Cabinet Secretary Aleksey Makarov informed Tolstoy and General I. I. Buturlin: “His Majesty deigned to determine one day in the week for hearing the search cases of your office, namely Monday, and for that, please be aware of that” . Peter often personally attended the meetings of the Chancellery and was even present during the torture.
If during the interrogation it seemed to the investigators that the suspect was “locked up”, then the conversation was followed by torture. This effective method was resorted to in St. Petersburg no less than in the cellars of the European Inquisition.
There was a rule in the office - "confessing - torture three times." This implied the need for a triple confession of guilt by the accused. In order for the testimony to be recognized as reliable, they had to be repeated at different times at least three times without changes. Prior to Elizabeth's decree of 1742, torture began without the presence of an investigator, that is, even before the start of questioning in the torture chamber. The executioner had time to “find” a common language with the victim. His actions, of course, no one is controlled.
Elizaveta Petrovna, like her father, constantly kept the affairs of the Secret Chancellery under full control. Thanks to a report given to her in 1755, we learn that the favorite methods of torture were: rack, vice, squeezing the head and pouring cold water (the most severe of the tortures).
Inquisition "in Russian"
The secret office performed, among other things, functions similar to those of the European Inquisition. Catherine II, in her memoirs, even compared these two bodies of “justice”: “Alexander Shuvalov, not by himself, but by the position he held, was a thunderstorm for the entire court, city and entire empire, he was the head of the inquisition court, which was then called the Secret Chancellery ".
These were not just nice words. Back in 1711, Peter I created a state corporation of informers - the institute of fiscals (one or two people in each city). Church authorities were controlled by spiritual fiscals, who were called "inquisitors". Subsequently, this undertaking formed the basis of the Secret Chancellery. It did not turn into a witch hunt, but religious crimes are mentioned in the files. In the conditions of Russia, just awakening from a medieval sleep, there were punishments for making a deal with the devil, especially with the aim of harming the sovereign. Among the latest cases of the Secret Chancellery is the trial of a merchant who declared the already deceased Peter the Great to be the Antichrist, and threatened Elizaveta Petrovna with a fire. The impudent foul-mouthed was from among the Old Believers. He got off lightly - he was flogged with a whip.
Eminence grise
General Andrei Ivanovich Ushakov became a real "gray eminence" of the Secret Chancellery. “He managed the Secret Chancellery under five monarchs,” notes the historian Yevgeny Anisimov, “and he knew how to negotiate with everyone! First he tortured Volynsky, and then Biron. Ushakov was a professional, he didn't care who he tortured." He came from among the impoverished Novgorod nobles and knew what "struggle for a piece of bread" means. He led the case of Tsarevich Alexei, tipped the cup in favor of Catherine I, when after the death of Peter the issue of inheritance was decided, opposed Elizabeth Petrovna, and then quickly entered the favor of the ruler. When the passions of palace coups thundered in the country, he was as unsinkable as the “shadow” of the French revolution - Joseph Fouche, who during the bloody events in France managed to be on the side of the monarch, the revolutionaries and Napoleon who came to replace them. Significantly, both "gray cardinals" met their death not on the scaffold, like most of their victims, but at home, in bed.
Hysteria of denunciations
Peter urged his subjects to report all disorder and crime. In October 1713, the tsar wrote ominous words "about the obedient to the decrees and those laid down by law and the robber of the people", for the denunciation of which the subjects "without any fear would come and announce it to us ourselves." The following year, Peter publicly invited the unknown author of an anonymous letter “about the great benefit to His Majesty and the whole state” to come to him for a reward of 300 rubles - a huge sum at that time. The process that led to a real hysteria of denunciations was launched. Anna Ioannovna, following the example of her uncle, promised "mercy and reward" for a just accusation. Elizaveta Petrovna gave freedom to the serfs for the “right” denunciation of the landowners who were hiding their peasants from revision. The decree of 1739 set as an example the wife who reported on her husband, for which she got 100 souls from the confiscated estate.
Under these conditions, they denounced everything and everyone, without resorting to any evidence, based only on rumors. It became the main instrument of the work of the main office. One careless phrase at a feast, and the fate of the unfortunate was sealed. True, something cooled the ardor of adventurers. Igor Kurukin, a researcher on the issue of the "secret office," wrote: "In the event of the defendant's denial and refusal to testify, the unfortunate scammer himself could get on his hind legs or spend in captivity from several months to several years."
In the era of palace coups, when thoughts of overthrowing the government arose not only among officers, but also among persons of a "vile rank", hysteria reached its climax. People started denouncing themselves! The “Russian Antiquity”, which published the affairs of the Secret Chancellery, describes the case of the soldier Vasily Treskin, who himself came with a confession to the Secret Chancellery, accusing himself of seditious thoughts: “it’s not a big deal to hurt the empress; and if he, Treskin, finds time to see the gracious empress, he could stab her with a sword.
Spy games
After Peter's successful policy, the Russian Empire was integrated into the system of international relations, and at the same time, the interest of foreign diplomats in the activities of the St. Petersburg court increased. Secret agents of European states began to visit the Russian Empire. Cases of espionage also fell under the jurisdiction of the Privy Office, but they did not succeed in this field. For example, under Shuvalov, the Secret Chancellery knew only about those "exiles" who were exposed on the fronts of the Seven Years' War. The most famous among them was Major-General of the Russian army, Count Gottlieb Kurt Heinrich Totleben, who was convicted of corresponding with the enemy and giving him copies of the "secret warrants" of the Russian command. But against this background, such well-known "spies" as the French Gilbert Romm, who in 1779 handed over to his government a detailed state of the Russian army and secret maps, successfully turned their affairs in the country; or Ivan Valets, a court politician who sent information about Catherine's foreign policy to Paris.
The last pillar of Peter III
Upon accession to the throne, Peter III wanted to reform the Secret Chancellery. Unlike all his predecessors, he did not interfere in the affairs of the body. Obviously, his dislike for the institution played a role, in connection with the cases of Prussian informers during the Seven Years' War, to whose ranks he belonged. The result of its reform was the abolition of the Secret Chancellery by the manifesto of March 6, 1762, due to "uncorrected morals among the people." In other words, the body was accused of not solving the tasks assigned to it.
The abolition of the Secret Chancellery is often considered one of the positive outcomes of Peter's reign. However, this careless move led the emperor only to his inglorious death. The temporary disorganization of the punitive department did not allow the participants in the conspiracy to be identified in advance and contributed to the spread of rumors that discredited the emperor, which now had no one to stop. As a result, on June 28, 1762, a palace coup was successfully carried out, as a result of which the emperor lost his throne, and then his life.
On April 2, 1718, Tsar Peter I officially established the Secret Chancellery - a new state authority designed to sort out the case of Tsarevich Alexei, who had recently returned from Austria and was suspected of treason by his father. However, after the death of the king's son, the Secret Chancellery was not dissolved, but continued to operate as an independent body of state security.
From Antian scouts to the Preobrazhensky Prikaz
In the 1990s, among journalists and authors of popular science literature in the post-Soviet space, there was a fashion for the artificial aging of everything that is possible. The history of the newly founded cities began to be traced back to the Paleolithic sites in their place, and some Ukrainian patriotic scientists, for example, declared the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks to be the "ancestors of the submarine fleet" on the basis that they specially loaded their seagulls (ships), increasing their draft and making them less noticeable to the Turkish military during the Black Sea raids.
- Drawing by a contemporary artist showing what a Cossack submarine might have looked like
- Wikimedia Commons
Inherited from lovers of antiquity and domestic special services. So, some authors, in pursuit of fees and popularity, began to declare the first Slavic intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers of medieval Ant warriors who hid in lakes and breathed through straws while tracking down the enemy. For professional scientists, this approach caused only a smile. One of the historians, commenting on such arguments, even jokingly suggested that the history of domestic special services be traced back to sparrows, with the help of which Princess Olga set fire to the Drevlyansk city of Iskorosten.
A certain functionality related to ensuring state security, intelligence and political investigation can be seen in the service of the ancient Russian princely squads and guardsmen of Ivan the Terrible. However, until the 17th century, it was difficult to distinguish it from the array of law enforcement, defense and foreign policy activities.
In 1654, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich established the Order of Secret Affairs, whose duties included dismantling petitions addressed to the sovereign and exercising general supervision over the administrative, military and diplomatic apparatus. In addition, the clerk who led the order and the clerks subordinate to him were engaged in what today would be called political investigation and counterintelligence - monitoring officials in order to detect treason, as well as combating slander against state power.
After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the Order of Secret Affairs was abolished, but ten years later, in 1686, it was actually revived by his son Peter Alekseevich. The young tsar, being removed from power by his sister Sophia, while in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, founded an office that serviced the royal family and managed amusing regiments - the Preobrazhenskaya amusing hut.
As Peter concentrated real power in his hands, the hut turned into a full-fledged body of military planning and control. In 1695, it was renamed the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, and a year later, the tsar endowed the department with the functions of court and investigation of state crimes. The work of this structure was led by Peter's closest associate, Fyodor Romodanovsky, who demonstrated loyalty to the monarch and cruelty towards his enemies.
A new word in political investigation
A big problem for Peter I at a certain stage of his career was that his only (before the birth of Catherine's son) heir Alexei did not support his father's reforms and was determined to restore the old order in Russia. With the birth of the tsar's second son, Pyotr Petrovich, in 1715, Alexei's position was shaken completely. After another showdown with his father, in 1716, under the influence of his entourage, he fled to Austria, from where Peter managed to lure him out with the help of the diplomat Peter Tolstoy, promising the prince forgiveness.
In fact, the tsar was not going to forgive his son and was very much afraid of the supporters of antiquity gathered around him, therefore, immediately upon the return of the heir to Russia in 1718, he put him under investigation.
The tsar's faithful companion, Fyodor Romodanovsky, had died by this time, and his son Ivan, who inherited his position, was still inexperienced and relatively soft-hearted. Therefore, Peter decided to establish a fundamentally new body of power, intended exclusively for political investigation - the Secret Chancellery, which included Tolstoy, who returned the prince to Russia, and Major Andrey Ushakov, the Transfiguration Guard, as "ministers".
- "Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof"
- N.N. Ge (1871)
Peter I personally led the investigation into the case of the prince. During the trial and torture of Alexei, the Secret Chancellery uncovered a conspiracy that his colleague Alexander Kikin was weaving against Peter, who persuaded the prince to flee. Kikin was executed. Aleksey himself died, according to the official version, from a stroke (heart attack), and according to rumors of that time, he could not stand the torture. However, the Secret Chancellery was not dissolved and continued its work as a full-fledged body of political investigation, having managed to sort out several thousand more cases of state crimes.
“This body was needed. Peter's reforms implied a radical restructuring of the state structure, the restructuring of society itself. This led to the aggravation of social contradictions. There was a need for structures that could resist conspiracies, attempts to counteract the course of Peter the Great, ”said Pavel Krotov, doctor of historical sciences, professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with RT.
According to him, the effectiveness of Peter's Secret Office is already evidenced by the fact that the emperor himself, unlike many "changers", did not fall victim to a conspiracy, and scientists are skeptical about rumors of barbarism and inhuman cruelty of the Secret Office.
According to Pavel Krotov, describing the horrors of Peter the Great in modern popular books and TV shows is good for raising ratings, but this is not a scientific approach. “Information about exposed slanders and even self-slanders has reached our days, the office sought to establish the truth,” the historian emphasized.
According to him, the Secret Chancellery "worked according to European standards" of the 17th century. And it is from the point of view of that time, and not from the position of our days, that it is necessary to evaluate her work.
In 1726, Empress Catherine I ceased the activities of the Secret Chancellery as an independent body, transferring its structure and affairs to the Preobrazhensky Prikaz.
Defenders of Russia
In 1729, the Preobrazhensky order was also liquidated. His functions were temporarily delegated to the Senate. But very quickly the authorities realized that it was impossible to live without the special services.
In 1731, the body of political investigation was revived under the name "Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs." It was headed by former Minister of the Secret Chancellery Andrey Ushakov. The new structure existed until 1762 and was liquidated in the wake of the liberal reforms of Peter III, who was overthrown shortly after the dissolution of the Chancellery. But his widow Ekaterina quickly reanimated the secret service - under the name "Secret Expedition".
According to Pavel Krotov, the era of absolutism was characterized by increased state intervention in the lives of its subjects.
The Secret Chancellery was a product of the era of palace coups, but it played an important role in history, becoming one of the guarantees for the preservation of Russia's sovereignty, the historian noted.
According to intelligence professionals, although the Secret Chancellery was not a counterintelligence agency in the modern sense of the word, the activities of its employees, like many other defenders of Russia in the 18th and early 19th centuries, are worthy of respect and study.
- Frame from the film "Midshipmen 3" (1992)
“The bodies that existed in the 18th or early 19th centuries could hardly be called special services in the modern sense of the word,” Mikhail Lyubimov, a veteran of the special services, writer and publicist, said in an interview with RT. - In a sense, the responsibilities of such structures were blurred. They did not have a full-fledged intelligence apparatus, but they also had strengths. In particular, they were less shackled by the bureaucracy of later special services. It was a time of personalities who sometimes carried out brilliant operations, and the role of the individual in the work of special services at all times is extremely great.
On April 14, 1801, Tsar Alexander Pavlovich in the Senate announced the liquidation of the Secret Expedition (a body of political investigation in 1762-1801). The investigation of political cases was transferred to the institutions that were in charge of criminal proceedings. From that moment on, cases of a political nature were to be considered by local judicial institutions on the same grounds "which are observed in all criminal offenses." The fate of the nobles was finally decided by the Senate, and for persons of "simple rank" court decisions were approved by the governor. The emperor also forbade torture during interrogations.
From a political detective
Obviously, even the most democratic state cannot do without special bodies, a kind of political police. There will always be a certain number of people who will encroach on the state system, often at the suggestion of external forces (the so-called “fifth column”).
The lip reform of 1555 transferred "robbery cases" to the regional elders. "Search" was then considered the main thing in legal proceedings, while much attention was paid to the search. In 1555, instead of the temporary Boyar hut, which investigated robbery cases, a permanent institution was created - Robbery hut (order). It was headed by the boyars D. Kurlyatev and I. Vorontsov, and then by I. Bulgakov.
In the legislative acts of the 17th century, political crimes are already known, expressed in insulting the royal power and striving to belittle it. Crimes against the Church were close to this category. They were reacted with no less speed and cruelty. At the same time, indications appeared that the cases were conducted secretly, the interrogation was “eyes on eyes”, or “on one”. The cases were secret, they were not widely publicized. Often cases began with denunciations, which were mandatory. Denunciations (Isveta) bore the special name of "Isvetov on the sovereign's business or word." The investigation was usually conducted by governors who reported the results to Moscow, where these cases were conducted in the Discharge and other orders, there were no special bodies yet.
The first "special service" was the Order of Secret Affairs under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, he was engaged in the search for "dashing people." In the Code of Alexei Mikhailovich there is a section devoted to crimes in "word and deed". The second chapter of the Code is devoted to these matters: "On the sovereign's honor, and how to protect his state health." In the 1st article of this chapter, it is said about the intent on the “state health” of an “evil deed”, that is, we are talking about an attempt on the life and health of the sovereign. In the 2nd article, we are talking about the intent to "take over the state and be a sovereign." The following articles are devoted to high treason. In the second chapter of the Code, the duty of everyone to "notify" the authorities of any evil intent, conspiracy was established, for failure to comply with this requirement, the death penalty was threatened "without any mercy."
Before the reign of Peter Alekseevich, there were no special police bodies in Rus', their work was carried out by military, financial and judicial institutions. Their activities were regulated by the Council Code, the Decree books of the Rogue, Zemsky, Kholopye orders, as well as separate decrees of the tsar and the Boyar Duma.
In 1686, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz was established (in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow). It was a kind of office of Peter Alekseevich, created to manage the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments. But at the same time he began to play the role of an institution for the fight against political opponents. As a result, this became its main function. This institution began to be called the Preobrazhensky Prikaz in 1695, since that time it received the function of protecting public order in Moscow and was responsible for the most significant court cases. Since 1702, he received the name of the hut in Preobrazhensky and the general courtyard in Preobrazhensky. The Preobrazhensky order was under the direct control of the tsar and was managed by his confidant Prince F.Yu. Romodanovsky (and after the death of F.Yu. Romodanovsky - by his son I.F. Romodanovsky).
In 1718, Peter established the Secret Chancellery, which existed until 1726. The secret office was created in St. Petersburg to investigate the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and performed the same functions as the Preobrazhensky order. The immediate chiefs of the Secret Chancellery were Pyotr Tolstoy and Andrei Ushakov. Subsequently, both institutions merged into one. The Secret Chancellery was located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The methods of these bodies were very cruel, people were tortured, kept for months in stocks and iron. It was in the era of Peter the words - "Word and deed", made any person tremble, be it a vagabond, or a royal courtier. No one was immune from the effect of these words. Any, the latest criminal to shout these words and arrest an innocent, often high-ranking and respected person. Neither rank, nor age, nor gender - nothing could save a person from torture, after whom "the sovereign's word and deed" was said.
Under Peter, the police also appeared in the Russian state. The beginning of the creation of the Russian police can be considered 1718, when a decree was issued on the establishment in the capital of the post of police chief general. I must say that, unlike Europe, a division is emerging in Russia - general police and political bodies were created. The police under Peter I received very broad powers: up to the appearance of people, their clothes, interference in the upbringing of children. It is interesting that if before Peter Alekseevich in Rus' it was forbidden to wear foreign clothes, to cut your head in a foreign way, then under him the situation changed in the opposite direction. All estates, except for the clergy and the peasantry, had to wear foreign clothes, shave their beards and mustaches.
Back in 1715, Peter opened the doors wide for political denunciation and voluntary investigation. He announced that the one who is a true Christian and a faithful servant of the sovereign and the fatherland, without a doubt, can convey in writing or orally about important matters to the sovereign himself or to the guard in his palace. It was reported what denunciations would be accepted: 1) about malicious intent against the sovereign or treason; 2) embezzlement of the treasury; 3) about an uprising, a rebellion, etc.
Getting into the dungeons of the secret office was very easy and trifling. For example, one Little Russian, while passing through the city of Konotop, drank with a soldier in a tavern. The soldier offered to drink to the Emperor's health. However, many ordinary people knew tsars, boyars, heard about overseas kings, but the concept of "emperor" was new and alien to them. Little Russian flared up: “Why do I need your emperor ?! There are many of you! The devil knows who he is, your emperor! But I know my righteous sovereign and I don’t want to know anyone else!” The soldier rushed to report to his superiors. The tavern was cordoned off, everyone who was in it was arrested. First they were sent to Kyiv to the Little Russian Collegium, and then to St. Petersburg, to the Secret Chancellery. So the high-profile case of "reproaching the emperor" was opened. The accused, Danil Belokonnik, was interrogated on the rack three times, and three times he gave the same testimony. He did not know that he was insulting the sovereign. I thought that the soldier was drinking for some boyar, who is called the "emperor." But the witnesses were confused in their testimony. At the time of the incident, they were drunk, no one really remembered anything, they were confused in the testimony. On the rack, they shouted whatever they wanted. Five died from "immoderate torture", others were sent to hard labor, and only two were released after being tortured. The “criminal” himself was released, but before that they were beaten with batogs, “so that no person should be scolded with such obscene words.”
Many fell into the dungeons on a drunken case, saying all sorts of nonsense, characteristic of a drunk person. Voronezh clerk Ivan Zavesin liked to drink, was noted for petty cheating. Once a clerk was under arrest for misconduct in the Voronezh provincial office. He asked for time off to visit a relative, but did not find him and went with the escort to a tavern. Having received it well, they entered the Court of Appeal. There Zavesin asked the official: "Who is your sovereign?" He answered: “Our sovereign is Peter the Great ...”, He hung in response and blurted out: “Your sovereign is Peter the Great ... and I am a serf of the sovereign Alexei Petrovich!” Zavesin woke up in the morning in the voivodship basement in shackles. He was taken to Moscow, to the Secret Chancellery. During interrogation, he said that drunk becomes insane. They made inquiries, his words were confirmed. However, he was still tortured for order, and then sentenced to 25 lashes.
At the beginning of the reign of Catherine I, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz received the name of the Preobrazhensky Chancellery, while retaining the same range of tasks. So it lasted until 1729. It was overseen by the Supreme Privy Council. The Preobrazhensky Chancellery was liquidated after the resignation of Prince Romodanovsky. The most important cases were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Privy Council, the less important ones to the Senate.
It should be noted that since the reign of Peter II, the social composition of the “political” has seriously changed. Under Pyotr Alekseevich, these were mostly people from the lower classes and social groups: archers, Old Believers, rebels from peasants, Cossacks, just random people. Like women who are currently called "possessed" (whores, holy fools) - they screamed all sorts of nonsense in a fit, which they used to start "political" affairs. After Peter I, a significant number of the military, people more or less close to the "elite", got into the dungeons. This is due to the fact that there was a tough struggle between various court factions.
They kept people in dungeons in very harsh conditions. According to some reports, the mortality rate reached 80%. A link to distant Siberia was considered a "happy occasion." According to contemporaries, the place of "preliminary detention" was a pit (dungeon), with virtually no access to daylight. Walking was not allowed for the convicts, they defecate directly on the earthen floor, which was cleaned once a year, before Easter. They fed once a day, in the morning they threw bread (no more than 2 pounds per prisoner). On big holidays they gave meat waste. Sometimes they gave food from alms. The stronger and healthier took away food from the weak, emaciated, exhausted by torture, bringing them closer to the grave. They slept on straw, which almost did not differ from other dirt, because it was changed every few months. There was no talk of official clothes, washing and bathing. This was accompanied by regular torture.
Anna Ioannovna in 1731 established the Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs under the leadership of A. I. Ushakov. This institution was responsible for conducting an investigation into the crime of the "first two points" of state crimes (which belonged to the "Word and deed of the sovereign"). The 1st paragraph reported, “if someone teaches some fabrications to think of an evil deed or person and honor with evil and harmful words,” and the 2nd spoke “of rebellion and treason.”
In the era of palace coups and the fight against political opponents under Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna, the Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs became a very influential institution. All government bodies were to immediately follow her orders, and all suspects and witnesses were sent to her.
From the beginning of 1741, Courlanders, "Germans", Biron's henchmen, or simply foreigners who were unlucky passed through the dungeons of the Secret Chancellery. They were accused of all sorts of crimes, from treason to simple theft. For a crowd of foreigners, even translators had to be invited. The dungeons were passed by two waves of foreigners. First, Minich overthrew Biron, and his supporters and their circle fell into disgrace. Then Elizaveta Petrovna received power and dealt with Anna Ioannovna's close associates, including Minikh.
Emperor Peter III abolished the Chancellery and at the same time banned the "Word and Deed of the Sovereign". Only the Senate was to deal with political affairs. But under the Senate itself, a Secret Expedition was established, which was engaged in political search. Formally, the institution was headed by the Prosecutor General of the Senate, but almost all affairs were in charge of the chief secretary S. I. Sheshkovsky. Catherine II decided to take care of such an important department herself and subordinated the Secret Expedition to the Prosecutor General, and its Moscow branch to the Governor General PS Saltykov.
Emperor Alexander I canceled the secret expedition, but in 1802 the Ministry of the Interior was created. In 1811, the Ministry of Police was separated from it. But it was not yet centralized, police chiefs and county police officers were subordinate to the governor. And the governors on some issues were controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on others - by the Ministry of Police. In 1819 the ministries were merged.
In addition, under Alexander Pavlovich in 1805, a Special Secret Committee for political investigation (Committee of the Higher Police) was established. In 1807, it was transformed into a Committee for the consideration of cases of crimes that concerned the violation of the general peace. The committee only considered cases, the investigations were carried out by the general police.
The uprising of the "Decembrists" led to the fact that Nicholas I established on July 3, 1826 the III Department of His Majesty's own office. It was the political police, which was directly subordinate to the king. III Division was subordinated to the Separate Gendarmerie Corps, established in 1827. The empire was divided into 7 gendarme districts. The head of this structure was A. Kh. Benckendorff. The III Section kept track of the mood in the society, its chief made reports to the tsar. Of about 300,000 sentenced to exile or imprisonment from 1823 to 1861, only about 5% were "political", most of them were Polish insurgents.
In 1880, considering that the III Branch was not coping with the task assigned to it (the terrorist threat had increased sharply), it was abolished. The overall leadership of the gendarme corps was entrusted to the Ministry of the Interior. The Police Department began to work in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a Special Department was established under it to combat political crimes. At the same time, departments for the protection of order and public security (security departments, the so-called “Okhranka”) began to work in Moscow and St. Petersburg. By the beginning of the 20th century, a network of security departments had been created throughout the empire. The security departments tried to identify revolutionary organizations, to stop the actions they were preparing: murders, robberies, anti-government propaganda, etc. The assets of the security departments were agents, fillers and secret employees. The latter were introduced into the revolutionary organizations, some were even in the leadership. Security departments also operated abroad, where there was a powerful strong revolutionary emigration. However, this did not save the Russian Empire. In December 1917, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission was created, the history of the Soviet special services began.
