Sergei Kruglov is one of those NKVD leaders who, after Stalin's death, were not included in the list of persons persecuted by the new government. However, despite his solid length of service, numerous awards and a reputation as a strong apparatchik, his career came to an end under Khrushchev.
On a lucky wave
An expert on the history of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Nekrasov, described Sergei Kruglov as a capable, intelligent and educated specialist, especially standing out against the background of his predecessors. Possessing a "tough" disposition, he forced his subordinates to reckon with themselves, but he always knew when to stop. It seemed that such a leader in the security agencies was serious and for a long time.
To some extent, Kruglov was lucky with his career. In the organs of the NKVD, he got into at the end of 1938, when the "Yezhovism" came to an end, which protected him from the purges that followed the "Great Terror". Kruglov was approved as the special commissioner of the NKVD for the affairs of the staff of the People's Commissariat who committed misconduct on December 20, 1938, the day of the professional holiday of the Chekists. This boded good prospects.
Indeed, he was quickly noticed by Lavrenty Beria, who was appointed deputy people's commissar of internal affairs for personnel. Kruglov at that time was only 32. Although he enjoyed great confidence in Beria, he never belonged to the number of his closest associates. Perhaps this saved Kruglov's life in 1953, when his former boss was sent to be shot.
Against Beria
However, Kruglov still managed to tarnish his name. From the beginning of 1941, Beria put the production and construction services of the GULAG under the jurisdiction of his deputy. Kruglov was little involved in operational work, however, the very fact of belonging to the camp, and therefore the punitive system later played its negative role.
But that will be in 1956. In the meantime, in February 1942, Kruglov was awarded the Order of the Red Star for the exemplary fulfillment of the party's tasks for the construction of fortified borders, in 1944 he was awarded the Order of Suvorov, 1st degree for participating in the mass deportations of Ingush, Chechens and Karachais, followed by the Order of Kutuzov 1 -th degree for the initiative in the fight against Ukrainian nationalists.
In December 1945, Beria ceded the post of People's Commissar of Internal Affairs to Kruglov (since March 1946 - Minister of Internal Affairs), which Kruglov will hold for more than seven years. In 1953, the department that united the ministries of internal affairs and state security was briefly headed by Beria, until June 26 of the same year he was arrested.
There is a lot of evidence indicating that the operation to arrest Beria was carried out not only under control, but also with the direct participation of Kruglov. Some researchers are convinced that the arrest was just a fake. In their opinion, it was on that day that Beria was liquidated.
Academician Andrei Sakharov recalled how, one summer day in 1953, at a secret facility where nuclear weapons were being developed, a plaque with the inscription "Beria Street" disappeared: in its place was soon replaced by another - "Kruglova Street."
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Career decline
On February 4, 1954, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sergei Kruglov, submitted an official note to the Central Committee of the CPSU, in which he proposed separating the "operational KGB departments" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs into an independent department. Kruglov's initiative was considered at a meeting of the Presidium and was fully supported, with the exception of the name of the new department. In the name “Committee for State Security under the Council of Ministers of the USSR” proposed by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the phrase “on affairs” was removed. So the KGB was born, one of the founders of which Kruglov can rightfully be considered.
But in the eyes of the new Soviet leaders, first of all, Khrushchev, Kruglov was strongly associated with the era of Beria. Even if there were no innocent victims on his conscience, even the indirect attitude towards repressive actions put the stigma of an "accomplice" on Kruglov. In the mid-1950s, any affiliation with the NKVD was a reason to pay close attention to the Chekist who worked in this structure.
The fall of Kruglov was gradual. In January 1956, he was removed from the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, expelled from the ranks of the CPSU and transferred to the post of deputy minister of construction of power plants; in August 1957, he was sent to provincial Kirov, where he worked as assistant to the chairman of the regional council of the national economy. But already in 1958, due to health problems, Kruglov was forced to apply for a disability and retire.
The authorities considered that a person with a tarnished reputation was not entitled to an elite service apartment and a general's pension. Kruglova and his wife are relocated to a cramped "kopeck piece" and leave the usual social security pension of 40 rubles.
Strange doom
Kruglov spent the last years of his life more than modestly, most of the time being at a dacha near Moscow. Late in the evening of July 6, 1977, on his way to Moscow, he was hit by a train near the Pravda platform. The former minister died on the spot from his injuries.
What really happened on that fateful day, no one will say. The police established that it was an accident - the fault of all the negligence of a citizen crossing the railway. There is only one catch here. There is no need to cross the tracks to get to the platform from where the trains go to Moscow. It is possible that Kruglov was on the rails not without help.
The opal continued after the death of Sergei Kruglov. The Interior Ministry felt that they were not obliged to organize the funeral of their former leader, who was also expelled from the party. However, part of the money for funeral events was still allocated to the family.
Kruglov's comrades from among his colleagues decided to turn to the Politburo with a request, at least posthumously, to restore in the party such an outstanding person who, sparing neither strength nor health, devoted his life to serving the Motherland. But these requests were never heard by the Soviet leadership.
Taras Repin