Office of Secret Investigation.

Great Leap Forward Costs

The decision of Peter I to create a fundamentally new special service was influenced by a variety of circumstances in his life. It all started with a childhood fear of the turmoil that took place before the eyes of the prince. The childhood of the first Russian emperor, overshadowed by rebellion, is somewhat similar to the childhood of the first Russian tsar, Ivan the Terrible. At an early age, he also lived in the days of boyar self-will, murders and conspiracies of the nobility.

Peter's heir Alexei died in the Peter and Paul Fortress

When Peter I began to carry out tough reforms in the country, a variety of his subjects opposed the changes. Supporters of the church, the former Moscow elite, long-bearded adherents of the "Russian antiquity" - who just was not dissatisfied with the impulsive autocrat. All this had a painful effect on Peter's moods. His suspiciousness intensified even more when the flight of the heir Alexei took place. At the same time, the conspiracy of the first head of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, Alexander Kikin, was uncovered. The case of the prince and his supporters turned out to be the last straw - after the executions and reprisals against traitors, Peter set about creating a centralized secret police on the Franco-Dutch model.

King and Consequence

In 1718, when the search for Tsarevich Alexander was still ongoing, the Office of Secret Investigations was formed in St. Petersburg. The department is located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy began to play the main role in her work. The secret office began to conduct all political affairs in the country.

Count Pyotr Tolstoy

The tsar himself often attended the "hearings". He was brought "extracts" - reports of the investigation materials, on the basis of which he determined the sentence. Sometimes Peter changed the decisions of the office. “Having beaten with a whip and cut out the nostrils, sent to hard labor in eternal work” in response to the proposal only to beat with a whip and send to hard labor - this is just one characteristic resolution of the monarch. Other decisions (like the death penalty for fiscal Sanin) were approved without amendments.

"Excesses" with the church

Peter (and hence his secret police) had a special dislike for church leaders. Once he learned that Archimandrite Tikhvinsky had brought a miraculous icon to the capital and began to serve secret prayers before it. First, the Royal Majesty sent midshipmen to him, and then he personally came to the archimandrite, took the icon and ordered him to be sent "for guard".

"Peter I in a foreign outfit in front of his mother, Tsarina Natalia, Patriarch Andrian and teacher Zotov." Nikolai Nevrev, 1903

If the matter concerned the Old Believers, Peter could demonstrate flexibility: “His Majesty deigned to reason that with the schismatics, who, in their opposition, were very cold, it was necessary to act cautiously, by civil court.” Many decisions of the Secret Chancellery were postponed indefinitely, since the tsar, even in the last years of his life, was distinguished by restlessness. His resolutions came to the Peter and Paul Fortress from all over the country. As a rule, the orders of the ruler were transmitted by the cabinet-secretary Makarov. Some of those guilty before the throne, in anticipation of the final decision, had to languish in prison for a long time: "... if the execution of the Vologotsk priest is not inflicted, then wait for it until you see me." In other words, the Secret Chancellery worked not only under the control of the tsar, but also with his active participation.

Further fate

Peter's Secret Chancellery outlived its creator by only one year. The first Russian emperor died in 1725, and the department merged with the Preobrazhensky Prikaz already in 1726. This happened because of the unwillingness of Count Tolstoy to burden himself with long-standing duties. Under Catherine I, his influence at court increased significantly, which made it possible to carry out the necessary transformations.

The secret office outlived Peter I by only 1 year

However, the very need for power in the secret police has not gone away. That is why for the rest of the 18th century (the century of palace coups) this organ was reborn several times in different reincarnations. Under Peter II, the functions of the detective were transferred to the Senate and the Supreme Privy Council. In 1731, Anna Ioannovna established the Office of Secret and Investigative Affairs, headed by Count Andrei Ivanovich Ushakov. The department was again abolished by Peter III and restored by Catherine II as a Secret Expedition under the Senate (among its most high-profile cases were the persecution of Radishchev and the trial of Pugachev). The history of regular domestic special services began in 1826, when Nicholas I, after the Decembrist uprising, created the Third Department at the Office of His Imperial Majesty.

Overcrowded prisons, executions and torture are the reverse and unpleasant side of the reign of Peter I, whose unprecedented transformations in all spheres of Russian life were accompanied by repressions of opponents and dissenters. An important milestone...

Great Leap Forward Costs

When Peter I began to carry out tough reforms in the country, a variety of his subjects opposed the changes. Supporters of the church, the former Moscow elite, long-bearded adherents of the "Russian antiquity" - who just was not dissatisfied with the impulsive autocrat. All this had a painful effect on Peter's moods. His suspiciousness intensified even more when the flight of the heir Alexei took place. At the same time, the conspiracy of the first head of the St. Petersburg Admiralty, Alexander Kikin, was uncovered. The case of the prince and his supporters turned out to be the last straw - after executions and massacres of traitors, Peter set about creating a centralized secret police on the Franco-Dutch model.

King and Consequence

Count Pyotr Tolstoy

The tsar himself often attended the "hearings". He was brought "extracts" - reports of the investigation materials, on the basis of which he determined the sentence. Sometimes Peter changed the decisions of the office. “Having beaten with a whip and cut out the nostrils, sent to hard labor in eternal work” in response to the proposal to only beat with a whip and send to hard labor - this is just one characteristic resolution of the monarch. Other decisions (like the death penalty for fiscal Sanin) were approved without amendments.

"Excesses" with the church

"Peter I in a foreign outfit in front of his mother, Tsarina Natalia, Patriarch Andrian and teacher Zotov." Nikolai Nevrev, 1903

Further fate

the central state body in Russia, created by Peter I to investigate the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich (March 20, 1718). Located in St. Petersburg, had a branch in Moscow. After the investigation, along with the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, it turned into a permanent body of political investigation and court.

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secret office

The secret office was formed in February 1718 in Moscow as a temporary investigating body in the case of Tsarevich Alexei, but after moving to St. Petersburg, where it was located in the Peter and Paul Fortress, on March 20 of the same year it was transformed into a permanent department. Since the investigation into the case of the royal son was entrusted to P.A. Tolstoy, who lured the tsarevich from abroad, the backbone of the staff of the new institution was a small staff of assistants to this diplomat. However, the circle of suspects in the prince's case turned out to be quite wide, so Peter strengthened the leadership of the Secret Chancellery with his proxies. In addition to G.G. Skornyakov Pisarev, who led the investigation into the case of Alexei's mother, it included Major A.I. Ushakov, given to help Tolstoy, and General I.I. Buturlin, who in March 1718 accepted all the papers sent from Moscow on the case of the prince. These four formed the leadership of the new state security agency. In 1718–1720 the heads of the Secret Chancellery were called "ministers", in the early 1720s. - "judges", sometimes they were called "inquisitors". Formally, all four "ministers" were equal, but the main among them, of course, was P.A. Tolstoy. The staff that helped them was very small: a secretary, 6 clerical workers and the necessary number of shoulder masters. The Secret Chancellery became the first highly specialized body in Russian history that was entirely focused on issues of political investigation and was not distracted by any other extraneous matters. From March to August 1718, the Secret Chancellery dealt exclusively with the case of Tsarevich Alexei, and during this period Peter himself was its actual head. Under his leadership, the investigation was carried out fairly quickly, extensively and thoroughly. In a conversation with Tolstoy, the tsar immediately outlined the circle of suspects: “If it weren’t for a nun (his first wife Evdokia Lopukhina, who was forcibly tonsured. - Approx. Aut.), And not a monk (Bishop Dosifey of Rostov. - Approx. Aut.), And not Kikin, Alexei would not have dared to commit such unheard-of evil. Oh beards! much evil is the root of elders and priests; my father dealt with one bearded man (Patriarch Nikon. - Approx. Aut.), and I dealt with thousands. Indeed, through his personal confessor Yakov Ignatiev, a close friend of Bishop Dositheus, the prince kept in touch with his mother imprisoned in the Suzdal monastery. The investigation established that the circle of Alexei's close associates used secret nicknames and encrypted correspondence in their relations with each other. Since all these people had no real influence and secret writing was half a game for them, the activity of A.V. Kikin, a former associate of Peter, who was caught stealing by the tsar and, after being punished, joined the prince's circle, becoming the main adviser to the heir. It was this man who initiated and organized Alexei's flight to Austria, and more than suspicious threads stretched from him to persons who had real military and administrative power. During the arrest, “numbered alphabets” were found at Kikin’s for correspondence with Prince V.V. Dolgoruky, Prince G.F. Dolgoruky, Prince Ya.F. Dolgoruky, General Admiral F.M. Apraksin, Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev, diplomat S.V. Raguzinsky, A. Volkov and A. Veselovsky. In order to obtain detailed confessions, the king did not stop at the torture of his son. So, for example, from June 19 to 24, 1718, Alexei was tortured six times in the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress, and on the first day they were tortured twice - from noon to one and from 6 to 9 in the evening. Under torture, he managed to wrest a confession that for the sake of seizing power, the prince was even ready to agree to Austrian intervention within the boundaries of the Fatherland. The evidence collected during the investigation was presented to the Supreme Court from the generals, senators and the Synod, which on June 24, 1718 sentenced the son of Peter I to death. According to the official version, Tsarevich Alexei died in the Peter and Paul Fortress from apoplexy, and according to rumors that circulated then, he was strangled, poisoned or beaten to death with a whip. Although this most high-profile trial of the Petrine era ended with the execution of the main culprit and his closest assistants, nevertheless, according to some researchers, Peter deliberately did not bring the investigation to its logical conclusion, since the already available materials indicated a very wide circle of high-ranking officials who, if and were not directly involved in the conspiracy, they were, to one degree or another, opposed to the Petrine reforms. Since the Preobrazhensky Prikaz already existed as the central body of state security in Russia, at the end of the case of Tsarevich Alexei, the Secret Chancellery should have been abolished, but Peter decided otherwise. Immediately upon completion of the process, on August 8, 1718, the tsar instructed Tolstoy to investigate the "Admiralty Revel case" - the case of grandiose theft by the naval department in the Revel port. In the same year, the Secret Chancellery conducts several important processes related to the category of "word and deed" in the interpretation of the royal decree of January 26, 1715. ("three points"): the criminal case of Peter's favorite Maria Hamilton, who stole the royal jewels; about abuses in Astrakhan; a group of cases "concerning the schism"; the case of Zverev's denunciation of Major Funikov for embezzlement of state money and property; about the theft of ship scaffolding on the Dnieper; the case of Lieutenant Drukkert, who forged the signature and seal of A.D. Menshikov; on the accusation of the Russian ambassador in Poland G.F. Dolgorukov in treason and bribery and a number of other "secret cases". The existing parallelism in the activities of the two state security agencies was secured by the Petrovsky decree of April 28, 1722, instructing the local authorities to send all cases of state crimes to the Preobrazhensky Prikaz or the Secret Chancellery. Apparently, the geographic factor played a decisive role in this duplication. On the one hand, Peter considered Moscow the center of sedition against all his undertakings and did not consider it possible to withdraw the Preobrazhensky order from the old capital, but on the other hand, the tsar also needed a body of political investigation, as they say, "at hand" in St. Petersburg. Although with the completion of the case of Tsarevich Alexei, Peter ceases to be the actual head of the Secret Chancellery, nevertheless he does not bypass it with his attention. The fact that starting from November 25, 1716, Peter specially set aside one day a week (Monday) when he came to the Secret Chancellery located in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and in the most attentive way delved into all her affairs, exerting a decisive influence on the conduct of the investigation and sentencing. Nevertheless, the bulk of the work still fell on the Preobrazhensky Prikaz. From 1719 to 1724, this department considered 1363 cases, and the Secret Chancellery for the same period - only 280. Under Catherine I, the Secret Chancellery received 3-4 cases in general. In 1722, I.I. ceased to participate in the work of the Secret Chancellery. Buturlin, and from the next year, G.G. SkornyakovPisarev. Thus, in the last three years of its existence, the body of political investigation in the new capital was headed by P.A. Tolstoy and A.I. Ushakov. The first one was weary of the role of a shoulder master imposed on him by Peter and looked for only a plausible pretext to refuse the post of inquisitor. At the end of Peter's reign, he managed to convince the sovereign to issue a decree that the Secret Chancellery would no longer accept newly sent prisoners and cases. However, something went wrong at that time, and only the widow of Peter I managed to finally convince Tolstoy to close the department subordinate to him. On May 28, 1726, Catherine I signed a decree abolishing the Secret Chancellery and transferring all its affairs to the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, which again became the only body of state security in the Russian Empire. The need to have a political investigation in St. Petersburg prompted Catherine I already in May 1727 to involve the Senate in solving this problem, which, acting in parallel with the Preobrazhensky order, was supposed to investigate crimes against the state committed in the Northern capital and the provinces closest to it. When during the short reign of Peter II, the son of Tsarevich Alexei, in 1729 the Preobrazhensky order was liquidated, the investigation of all political crimes was entrusted to two higher bodies - the Supreme Privy Council and the Senate. However, this idea was clearly ill-conceived, and the activities of both bodies, quickly overwhelmed with cases of "the sovereign's word and deed", were partially paralyzed. Already in the summer of 1729, complaints began to come in that, due to the liquidation of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, “difficulties were occurring in the Senate in matters.” With the death of Peter II in 1730, the male branch of the Romanov dynasty came to an end, and an acute dynastic and political crisis arose in the country. The niece of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna, who lived in Courland, was eventually chosen to the Russian throne. Taking advantage of the situation, the Supreme Privy Council, which included representatives of the old and new aristocracy, took steps to introduce a constitutional monarchy in Russia and demanded that the new empress sign "conditions" that significantly limited her power. However, the nobility, frightened by the threat of establishing the power of the oligarchy, opposed the Supreme Privy Council, and, relying on its support, Anna Ioannovna tore up the conditions signed by her and brutally cracked down on their "heads". The situation of intense political struggle in the very ruling class of the Russian Empire, which accompanied the accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna to the throne, again showed the relevance of the concept of "state crime". By a manifesto of March 4, 1730, the new ruler dissolved the Supreme Privy Council, and by decree of April 10, she concretized the understanding of the “first two points”, which since 1715 constituted the specific essence of “word and deed”. The first point now concerned those persons, “who will teach what intentions to think about our imperial health, an evil deed or person, and the honor of our majesty to vilify evil and harmful”; the second paragraph should have been applied in those cases, "if someone behind whom truly knows a rebellion or treason against us and the state." For failure to report or false denunciation, the authorities again promised cruel punishment and the death penalty, and for the correct denunciation - royal mercy and reward. From Courland, Anna Ioannovna brought with her her inner circle, headed by the favorite Biron, who patronized her fellow tribesmen in every possible way. The gloomy time of German dominance began, which received the apt name of "Bironism". Foreign influence at court provoked protest not only among the common people, but also among the patriotic part of the ruling class. To protect her autocratic power, the new empress, a year after her accession, hastened to recreate a specialized body of political investigation - the Office of Secret Investigative Affairs. Separately, it should be noted that sometimes the Secret Office dealt with cases related to foreign espionage. So, in 1732, a certain Greek was suspected of espionage. How the investigation ended is unknown. In 1756, the missionary Valcroissant and Baron Budberg fell under suspicion. In 1761, General Totleben was suspected "of his relations with the Prussians." In January 1762, "The Secret Office was conducting a big case of espionage discovered among our troops in Prussia"2.

Established Secret expedition playing the same role. Finally abolished by Alexander I.

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Subtitles

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. It was 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 job of managing the sale of tobacco, and in a year it was ordered to send to the order everyone who would speak for themselves. "Word and deed state"(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 the slandered, and very often people were slandered who had not committed any crime, 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 already 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 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".

It was abolished by the manifesto of Emperor Peter III (1762), at the same time the "Word and deed" of the sovereign was prohibited.

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, the chief secretary S. I. Sheshkovsky was in charge of all affairs. The secret expedition was investigating the conspiracy of V. Mirovich, prosecuting A. N. Radishchev, overseeing 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.

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 the history of political investigation

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 Russia, 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 Russia 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 to deal with cases of crimes that concerned the disturbance 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.

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