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Viktor AbakumovViktor Semyonovich Abakumov (1894 - December 18 1954), Soviet police official, was a protege and subordinate of Lavrenty Beria, head of the Soviet political police aparatus from 1938 to 1953. Abakumov was a notoriously brutal official who was known to torture prisoners with his own hands. During World War II Abakumov was Head of SMERSH (an acronym for Smert Shpionam or "Death to Spies"), the Soviet wartime counter-espionage organisation. After the war he controlled the Soviet foreign espionage network known as the Information Committee (Komitet Informatsii or KI). In 1946 he was appointed head of the Ministry of State Security (MGB) under the general supervision of Beria, replacing Vsevolod Merkulov. In this capacity he was in charge of the 1947 purge known as the "Leningrad Affair," in which the Politburo member Nikolai Voznesensky was executed. In 1951 Abakumov was dismissed and arrested on Stalin's orders, apparently because Stalin decided that Beria was growing too powerful. He was replaced by Semyon Ignatyev. On Stalin's death in March 1953, Beria had Abakumov released and returned to security work as Beria's agent. But he was arrested again when Beria was overthrown by the other Soviet leaders in June. He was tried in for his role in the Leningrad Affair and executed on December 18 1954. Abakumov, Viktor Abakumov, Viktor Abakumov, Viktor Abakumov, Viktor Abakumov, Viktor
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