76. Russia's Top Secret Assassination Squad: KGB's 13th Division | A Day In History

In 1940, the Bolshevik revolutionary and first head of the Red Army, Leon Trotsky, was offed in Mexico City. Trotsky fled the Soviet Union in 1928 after he came out at the bottom of a power struggle with Josef Stalin, a position many people had found themselves in. The offing of real and imagined foes had a long history in Russia. Still, it was during the early Soviet era when an entire branch of the intelligence gathering and spy apparatus of the country was given its own very top secret department within the NKVD in 1936. The department was called the "Directorate of Special Tasks." The NKVD underwent many changes after WWII and became the "MGB." In the MGB, the department was known as "Spets Byuro #1" for "Special Purpose Office #1". It was also known by more sinister and 007like names such as "The Chamber" and "Lab #1".#kgb #topsecret #history #putinkgb #putinCopyright © 2021 A Day In History. All rights reserved.DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to [email protected] by ⁠PodcastPayouts.com⁠ ------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices