Police Department of Russia

For the current federal police in Russia, see Police of Russia.

The Police Department of the MVD (Russian: Департамент полиции МВД России (Departament politsii MVD Rossii)) was the main police force of the Russian Empire and part of the Ministry of Police in the late 19th century, and was responsible for the management of all the police forces in the Russian Empire including Okhrana branches,^[1][2][3] and was aided by the Special Corps of Gendarmes.

Police Department of Russia

Департамент полиции Российской империи (Departament politsii Rossiyskoy imperii)
Agency overview
Formed	August 6, 1880
Dissolved	February 27, 1917
Jurisdiction	Russian Empire
Headquarters	Petrograd
Parent agency	Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Empire
Child agency	Police of Russia

History

Main article: Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery

The Police Department was established on August 6, 1880 following the dissolution of the Third Section. The newly formed Police department was part of the MVD. From 1880 til 1883 it was called The Department of the State Police ("Департамент государственной полиции" (Departament gosudarstvennoy politsii)). Under its jurisdiction was the Okhrana, all the policing bodies, including the detective branches, and the Fire departments.

After the February Revolution the Department was dissolved by the decree of the Russian provisional government from February 27, 1917.

After the October Revolution the government has announced the establishment of the Militsiya, as the new police force.

Director

The head of the department was The Director of the Police Department, which was appointed by the Minister of the Internal Affairs.

Directors of Police Department

Minister	Start year	End year
Ivan Velio	1880	1881
Vyacheslav von Plehve	1881	1884
Pyotr Durnovo	1884	1893
Nikolai Petrov	1893	1895
Nikolai Saburov	1895	1896
Anton Dobrzhinsky	1896	1897
Sergei Zvolyansky	1897	1902
Aleksei Lopukhin	1902	1905
Sergei Kovalensky	March 1905	June 1905
Nikolai Garin	July 1905	November 1905
Emmanuel Vuich	1905	1906
Maximilian Trusevich	1906	1909
Nil Zuev	1909	1912
Stepan Beletsky	1912	1914
Valentine Brun de Saint Hippolyte	1914	1915
Ruschu Mollov	September 1915	November 1915
Konstantin Kafafov	1915	1916
Evgeny Klimovich	February 1916	September 1916
Aleksey Vasilyev	1916	1917

See also

• Ministry of Police of Imperial Russia
• Okhrana

Further reading

• Ronald Hingley, The Russian Secret Police: Muscovite, Imperial, and Soviet Political Security Operations (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1970). ISBN 0-671-20886-1
• R. J. Stove, The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims (Encounter Books, San Francisco, 2003). ISBN 1-893554-66-X
• Dominic Lieven (ed.), The Cambridge History of Russia, Volume II: Imperial Russia, 1689–1917, Cambridge University Press (2006), ISBN 978-0-521-81529-1.