Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies

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Chronology of Soviet security agencies
1917–22	Cheka of the Sovnarkom of the RSFSR (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission)
1922–23	GPU of the NKVD of the RSFSR (State Political Directorate)
1923–34	OGPU of the Sovnarkom of the USSR (Joint State Political Directorate)
1934–41 1941–43	NKVD of the USSR (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) GUGB of the NKVD of the USSR (Main Directorate of State Security)
1941 1943–46	NKGB of the USSR (People's Commissariat for State Security)
1946–53	MGB of the USSR (Ministry of State Security)
1953–54	MVD of the USSR (Ministry of Internal Affairs)
1954–91	KGB of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Committee for State Security)
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There were a succession of Soviet secret police agencies over time. The first secret police after the October Revolution, created by Vladimir Lenin's decree on December 20, 1917, was called "Cheka" (ЧК). Officers were referred to as "chekists", a name that is still informally applied to people under the Federal Security Service of Russia, the KGB's successor in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

For most agencies listed here secret policing operations were only part of their function; for instance, the KGB was both the secret police and the intelligence agency.