- P–
PANYUSHKIN, ALEKSANDR SEMENOVICH (1905–1974). Pa-
nyushkin joined the OGPUin 1927. At the age of 34, he was dis-
patched to China as intelligence rezidentand ambassador, dual roles
he later held in Washington and in Beijing. After serving in counter-
intelligencein the MVDand the KGB, he was appointed chief of the
KGB’s First (Foreign Intelligence) Chief Directorate in 1954. He re-
turned in 1955 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as
a senior official until 1973. Panyushkin held the rank of KGB major
general and was decorated by the Communist Party, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and the KGB.PARTISAN WARFARE, ANTI-SOVIET. Soviet authorities faced a
partisan threat from Ukrainian and Baltic citizens from the first
days of World War II. In Lvov in the Ukraine and in Lithuania, na-
tionalists fired on retreating Soviet soldiers in 1941. Moreover,
some Soviet soldiers deserted their formations and joined these
groups. During the war, these partisan formations grew, developed
secret governments, and operated against both the German occupa-
tion forces and Soviet partisan bands.
In 1945 Moscow faced organized military opposition in the Baltic
states and western Ukraine. In Lithuania and in some districts of the
western Ukraine, nationalists controlled the majority of the popula-
tions. Soviet troops following the Germans into the regions were im-
mediately thrown into battle against new enemies. NKVD special
groups organized by the Chief Directorate for the Struggle against
Banditry (Glavnoe upravlenie borby s banditizom) operated in rebel
areas against the partisans, while the military controlled large towns
and cities. They established informantnets and forced the rural ar-
eas to form self-defense units to isolate partisan commands from their
supporters in the population. The NKVD also formed “false gangs”
of partisans, which moved into villages to test support for the parti-
sans and the communist authorities. Villages that welcomed these
“partisans” were ruthlessly punished. Captured partisans were se-
verely interrogated and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Moscow’s struggle against the anti-Soviet partisans reflected a
set of sophisticated political and social policies. There was an ex-186 •PANYUSHKIN, ALEKSANDR SEMENOVICH (1905–1974)06-313 G-P.qxd 7/27/06 7:56 AM Page 186