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The Ministry of State Security (MGB) (Russian: Министерство государственной безопасности, Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti) was the name of a Soviet secret police agency from 1946 to 1953. It was merged with the MVD in 1953 by Lavrenty Beria, but Beria was arrested and executed the same year, and a third agency, the KGB (1954- 1991), broke off from the reformed MVD.

The East German secret police agency, the Stasi, was also named "Ministry for State Security," and it is likely that it adopted the name of the agency that influenced it.

[edit] Heads

• Vsevolod Merkulov 1946
• Viktor Abakumov 1946 - 1951
• Sergey Ogoltsov 1951 (acting)
• Semyon Ignatyev 1951 - 1953

[edit] See also

• Eastern Bloc politics

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