Sudoplatov Special Tasks Summary

Pavel Sudoplatov’s Special Tasks tracks his career as a Soviet intelligence officer, specifically the covert missions that defined his career. Sudoplatov started out as a soldier for the Red Army, conducting low level intelligence duties like translating messages. From there, he was recruited to the CHEKA (Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counterrevolution and Sabotage), the primary Soviet intelligence service at that time. He began to build his career, starting with the assassination of Yevhen Konovalets, who was the Ukrainian nationalist leader at that time. His work in covert operations quickly gained the attention of high-level Soviet leaders, including Stalin. Sudoplatov’s memoir details some of the most influential covert operations

Although to this day there is no evidence that Stalin personally ordered the assassination, Sudoplatov recounts how Stalin took advantage of this favorable political tragedy to purge high-level government officials who presented a threat to his authority: “Stalin, when he learned of Kirov’s death, saw an opportunity and used it. Stalin decided to fabricate a grand conspiracy against Kirov and himself; he exploited the situation to eliminate all those he suspected as rivals or disloyal opponents, which he could not tolerate” (55). In other words, regardless if Stalin actually ordered the assassination of Kirov, which he presumably did, his constructed this conspiracy that allowed him to purge political opponents. Sudoplatov goes on to describe the fear that circulated among Soviet leadership: “we felt that a terrible injustice was being committed. When our friends were arrested, we thought mistakes had been made…for the first time we feared for our lives and faced the threat of being exterminated by our own system. At that time I began to think about the system, which sacrificed those devoted to its service. I accepted the brutality and stern order that characterized our centralized society; it appeared to be the only method of preserving the country when it was surrounded by

Following Stalin’s death, Beria, Sudoplatov’s long-time superior and mentor, made very provocative statements and called for many changes in policy and leadership, many of which undermined the authority of Soviet leadership at the time. Sudoplatov recalls the charge that was handed down to his colleague, Beria: “Kruglov told us that Beria, due to provocative, antigovernment actions undertaken in recent days, was arrested and detained under orders of the government” (368). Beria was arrested because he posed a threat to the power of Soviet leadership. Although Sudoplatov’s long-time colleague’s arrest was surprising and unjust, Sudoplatov argues that the implications of that arrest were worrisome to him and his colleagues. Sudoplatov writes, “I hurried to my office and summoned Leonid Eitingon. We both realized that a purge would follow. However, we were naïve enough to believe that Kruglov, in making up the list for arrests, would take into consideration the service’s professional requirements” (369). In other words, Beria’s arrest meant that anyone connected to him or his agenda would likely be eliminated, including Sudoplatov and his colleagues. Sudoplatov remarks that him and his friends thought that Kruglov would take into account their loyalty to the government, however they were