“Rise and Fall” of the Senior Investigator of the MGB of the USSR M. D. Ryumin

Abstract

Drawing on new archival documents recently released into circulation, this article investigates the decision-making mechanism of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU regarding the reform of state security bodies in the early 1950s. The reason for this was the statement of the senior investigator of the Investigative unit for particularly important cases of the MGB of the USSR, M. D. Ryumin, who signaled the unfavorable situation in the Ministry of State Security. This contributed to V. S. Abakumov’s removal from office and arrest. A number of other leaders of the MGB were also arrested. In October 1951, by decree of the Soviet Council of Ministers, M. D. Ryumin was appointed Deputy Minister of State Security, member of the Board of the MGB, and head of the investigative unit of the MGB. However, a year later, he was suspended from work in the Ministry of State Security for failing to solve the “Abakumov case” and “the doctors’ case”, and was sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU. Later he was appointed to the post of senior controller of the Ministry of State Control of the USSR. After Stalin’s death, Ryumin was arrested in July 1954 for falsifying investigative materials, torturing prisoners, and committing other offenses. By the decision of the Military Board of the Supreme Court of the USSR, he was executed.