Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence

the information—proof that more than a dozen highly placed Soviet

citizens were working for American and British intelligence.

Cherkashin received the Order of Lenin for his success but was

never promoted to general officer or given a responsible position

in the KGB again. Because of his relationship with Oleg Kalugin, he

was not fully trusted by KGB Chair Vladimir Kryuchkov, and he

was assigned to a minor post. In later years, he was blamed for

the loss of Ames and Hanssen, and articles appeared in the Russian

press accusing him of being a “super mole” in the pay of the Central

Intelligence Agency.

CHIEF INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE. See GRU; GRU

ORGANIZATION.

CHORNAYA RABOTA(BLACK WORK).The Communist Party

leadership in Joseph Stalin’s time used the term chornaya rabotato

refer to legal and extralegal executions. Stalin ordered the service to

carry out extralegal executions of associates, friends, and doomed

lovers, such as Kira Kulik, the wife of Marshal Grigory Kulik, and

Zinaida Raikh, the wife of Vsevold Myerhold, as well as famous

Jewish intellectuals. These killings apparently were commissioned

out of personal spite by Stalin and his security generalissimo

Lavrenty Beria. In the 1970s the KGBalso used the term mokroye

delo(wet work) to refer to executions or assassinations.

CIVIL WAR, 1918–1921.The Chekaplayed a critical role in the Bol-

shevikvictory in the Russian civil war that left millions dead by bul-

let, hunger, and cold. Feliks Dzerzhinsky and his subordinates pro-

vided critical intelligence on the Bolsheviks’ White and anarchist

opponents, put backbone in the Red Army, and crushed all opposition

to communist rule. The Cheka used the Red Terrorto destroy real

and imaginary enemies of Soviet power, executing more than

140,000 men and women.

The Cheka put cadres into every military formation in the new

Workers and Peasants’ Red Army. These sections kept an eye on

tsarist specialists the Bolsheviks had pressed into serving as military

commanders. Military power in commands was shared between the

Red Army commander, the party’s representative, and a Chekist. This

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