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Ministry of Internal Affairs (Soviet Union)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (MVD; Russian: Министерство внутренних дел СССР (МВД), romanized: Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del SSSR) was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1991.

Agency overview

15 March 1946 (1946-03-15)

26 December 1991 (1991-12-26)

Soviet Union

Zhitnaya St. 16, Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
55°43′51″N 37°36′50″E / 55.73083°N 37.61389°E / 55.73083; 37.61389

  • Minister of Interior

The MVD was established as the successor to the NKVD during reform of the People's Commissariats into the Ministries of the Soviet Union in 1946. The MVD did not include agencies concerned with secret policing unlike the NKVD, with the function being assigned to the Ministry of State Security (MGB). The MVD and MGB were briefly merged into a single ministry from March 1953 until the MGB was split off as the Committee for State Security (KGB) in March 1954. The MVD was headed by the Minister of Interior and responsible for many internal services in the Soviet Union such as law enforcement and prisons, the Internal Troops, Traffic Safety, the Gulag system, and the internal migration system. The MVD was dissolved upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and succeeded by its branches in the post-Soviet states.

Functions and organization[edit]

The MVD had a wide array of duties related to the internal functions and security of the Soviet Union. It was responsible for uncovering and investigating certain categories of crime, apprehending criminals, supervising the internal passport system, maintaining public order, combating public intoxication, supervising parolees, managing prisons and labor camps, providing fire protection, and controlling traffic. Until early 1988, the MVD was also in charge of special psychiatric hospitals, but a law passed in January 1988 transferred all psychiatric hospitals to the authority of the Ministry of Health.[3]

The controlled such white-collar crime as embezzlement and falsification of economic-plan records.

Directorate for Combating the Embezzlement of Socialist Property and Speculation

The Criminal Investigation Directorate assisted the Procuracy, and on occasion the , in the investigation of criminal cases.

KGB

There was a separate department for investigating and prosecuting minor cases, such as traffic violations

The Maintenance of Public Order Directorate was responsible for ensuring order in public places and for preventing outbreaks of public unrest.

[3]

Fire Protection Directorate

[3]

Directorate of Milita. The members of the (uniformed police), as part of the regular police force, were distinguished by their gray uniforms with red piping. The duties of the militsiya included patrolling public places to ensure order and arresting persons who violated the law, including vagrants and drunks. Resisting arrest or preventing a police officer from executing his duties was a serious crime in the Soviet Union, punishable by one to five years' imprisonment. Killing a policeman was punishable by death.[3]

militsiya

Directorate - administered troops organized, equipped, and trained as military forces but assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs [3]

Internal Troops

The Office of Visas and Registration was charged with registering Soviet citizens and foreigners residing in each precinct of a city and with issuing internal passports to Soviet citizens. Soviet citizens wishing to emigrate from the Soviet Union and foreigners wishing to travel within the Soviet Union had to obtain visas from this office.

[3]

The Office of Recruitment and Training supervised the recruitment of new members of the militsiya, who were recommended by work collectives and public organizations. The local party and bodies screened candidates thoroughly to ensure their political reliability. Individuals serving in the militsiya were exempt from the regular military draft.[3]

Komsomol

Office of Motor Vehicle Inspection

[3]

As a union-republic ministry under the Council of Ministers, the MVD had its headquarters in Moscow and branches in the republic and regional government apparatus, as well as in oblasts and cities. Unlike the KGB, the internal affairs apparatus was subject to dual subordination: local internal-affairs offices reported both to the executive committees of their respective local Soviets and to their superior offices in the MVD hierarchy.[3]


The MVD headquarters in Moscow was divided into several directorates and offices:[5]

Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops

Novosibirsk

Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops named after Sergey Kirov

Ordzhonikidze

Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops

Perm

Higher Military Command School of the Internal Troops named after Felix Dzerzhinsky

Saratov

Higher Military School of Logistics of the Internal Troops

Kharkov

Higher Political-School of Internal Troops named after the 60th anniversary of the Komsomol

Leningrad

(14 January 1946 – 13 March 1953)

Sergei Kruglov

(13 March 1953 – 26 July 1953)

Lavrentiy Beria

(10 July 1953 – 1 February 1956)

Sergei Kruglov

(1 February 1956 – 13 January 1960)

Nikolai Dudorov

(17 September 1966 – 17 December 1982)

Nikolai Shchelokov

(17 December 1982 – 25 January 1986)

Vitaly Fedorchuk

(25 January 1986 – 20 October 1988)

Aleksandr Vlasov

(20 October 1988 – 2 December 1990)

Vadim Bakatin

(2 December 1990 – 22 August 1991)

Boris Pugo

(23 August 1991 – 19 December 1991)

Viktor Barannikov

Source:[6][7]

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