Military Counterintelligence Personnel of the White Army during the Civil War in Russia (1918-1920)

Abstract

n the years of Civil War the military counter-intelligence of the White Army began to carry out political investigations and as a result its importance increased significantly. In this regard, the personnel of the military counter-intelligence agencies that directly ensured the security of the anti-Bolshevik state formations became particularly important. The conditions of the Civil War had a strong influence on it. The issues of selection, placement, training of personnel of military security agencies went beyond their sphere of activity and were of great importance for the construction of the entire white statehood. The following conclusions were drawn on the basis of this research: in the years of Civil War, military counterintelligence agencies experienced an acute shortage of professionally trained personnel; the main reasons for this were the need to staff the newly created military security agencies in the territories of white governments after their liquidation by the Soviet authorities and the significant expansion of counterintelligence staff in the years of Civil War; the personnel policy in the military security agencies included a politicised approach to personnel selection; the level of professional training of counter-intelligence personnel has significantly decreased; the selection of personnel for military security bodies was carried out haphazardly and situationally, in connection with which random people often entered their service.