According to official data, in December 1953, Lavrenty Beria, the closest associate of the "leader of all nations" - Stalin, was executed. It was believed that the truth has triumphed - the criminal and the villain have finally been punished and justice has triumphed.
Stalin was a very distrustful and suspicious person, he saw everywhere signs of an impending conspiracy. This also applied to his inner circle. Until now, gradually opening archives give out "exclusive" secrets in portions. For example, the press discusses documents confirming the existence of a conspiracy against Stalin, led by Beria. The purpose of the conspiracy was to separate Georgia from Russia. Years have passed, and today Beria's plan has been fulfilled: we can say that "Beria's case lives on and wins."
It all began in the most difficult time of the Second World War, when the Germans were already confident of their victory and were preparing for the parade on Red Square. Beria actively began to establish contacts with the government of Georgia, who lived in exile - the so-called Paris center. He was helped in this by a relative of his wife, who had previously immigrated to France. In 1918-1921 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Georgian Democratic Republic, which was liquidated by the Bolsheviks. Beria believed that with the help of a relative he would be able to secure his future in a new and independent Georgia.
A small note: during the Second World War, the "Paris Center" actively collaborated with the Nazis, even organized a Georgian military legion that participated in the war on the side of the Germans. The leaders of the "Paris Center" believed that Hitler would provide an opportunity for his Georgian colleagues to create an independent republic of their own.
In 1945, when it became clear to everyone in the world that the days of Nazi Germany were numbered, Beria, as evidenced by archival documents, postponed his plan until better times.
Immediately after Stalin's death, Lavrenty Beria returned to his postponed plan.
The question arises: after the death of the "leader of the peoples" Beria came into force, so why did he need to create an independent Georgia, if he could become the leader of the Soviet Union?
We can only assume that Beria realistically assessed the likelihood that it would be difficult for the second Georgian to become the head of the country, whom Russia is unlikely to endure. But it was real for him to take the throne of independent Georgia. To achieve this goal, Beria made every effort and his influence to turn the USSR from a federation into a confederation (Confederation is a union of sovereign states).
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His initiatives seemed, from the first glance, completely harmless. Claiming that it was time to increase the self-esteem of the titular peoples in each republic, he proposed introducing republican awards (titles, orders), as well as increasing the number of national cadres in each republican leadership, removing Russian officials from them. But the most dangerous thing about the proposed measures was that he proposed to create in each republic military units, the so-called national guard, which would not be integrated into the USSR Armed Forces.
To improve his status, to realize his goals, Beria "promoted" the title of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
However, all of Beria's plans contradicted the national policy that Joseph Stalin pursued with such difficulty, for 30 years. So, as a real first step for the separation of Georgia from the Soviet Union, Beria, a few days after Stalin's death, by his order terminated the investigation of the "Mingrelian case" (Mingrelia is the western part of Georgia).
Note that the "Mingrelian affair" was started in the early 1950s at the personal order of Stalin, who ordered to expose the intentions of nationalist elements wishing to organize and implement the secession of several republics from the Soviet Union. According to the documents, the leader was shocked by the fact that there were "schismatics" in the government structures of the country.
For a long time the Mingrels put up anti-Russian resistance. Beria told his son: "If the Georgians could hardly put up with Russian rule, then the Mingrelians more than anyone else put up stubborn resistance to the tsar's power." The Mengrels did not change their attitude towards Russians during the years of Stalin's rule. In addition, Beria himself was a mengrel, secretly sympathizing with his fellow countrymen and supporting Georgian nationalism.
Stalin learned about the aspirations of his closest comrade-in-arms and gave the command to activate the "Mingrelian affair". The archives contained documents confirming the fact that Stalin knew about Beria's anti-state intentions and was preparing his arrest. The leader of all nations was aware of Beria's relationship with his wife's relative, who represented the Georgian government in exile, and that the “comrade-in-arms” was trying to influence events in Georgia through a relative, as part of the activation of the nationalist movement. The archive contains a letter sent to Beria from abroad. Here is an excerpt from it: “… I came to the conclusion that Georgia cannot count on the West in its struggle for its national freedom. … I think that what has been said is enough for you to understand that such a formulation of the question is the key to the future. … I hope we will come back to this issue later … ". From the letter you can seethat the Parisian relative counted on the help of his omnipotent relative (Beria) in gaining independence for Georgia. Stalin was familiarized with intelligence data and documents confirming Beria's plan.
In addition, Beria, through his confidants, protected his comrades-in-arms in the nationalist movement. For example, he saved from the tribunal the traitor to the homeland Teimuraz Shavdia, who was his wife's nephew. Teimuraz was captured during the hostilities and immediately went over to the side of the fascists, fought against the Soviet troops, leading the "national Georgian legion". In addition, he served in the SS punitive unit, which is known for its brutality in the suppression of the French Resistance. He was detained after the war as a criminal in France and handed over to Georgia, where it turned out that Teimuraz "did not commit anything criminal." This was one of the reasons why Stalin set the stage for the "Mingrelian affair".
There were other reasons for preparing the arrest of the "big mingrel". He committed criminal offenses not a little without caring that he would be brought to justice. Here is an excerpt from the interrogation protocol of Valentina Chizhova: “… Beria, Sarkisov and I were present at dinner. I didn't want to drink wine, but Beria said that it would be a very light wine, since he would mix wine with lemonade. I drank 3-4 glasses of this wine and then passed out. I woke up only in the morning, already in another room - in the bedroom. Beria was sleeping next to me on the bed. …. Deeply shocked by what happened to me, I demanded from Beria that he let me go home. At the same time, I told Beria that I would write about the crime he had committed to Comrade Stalin. To this Beria replied in a rude form that all the same my statement would not get to Comrade Stalin, but would end up in his hands, Beria,and I will only make it worse for myself. Beria said that I might not leave this house at all, and my mother would be sent to the most distant camps … I thought that he could carry out these threats. Therefore, I was forced to obey …”.
Surely, many documents about Beria's "activities", the essence of which was known to Stalin, have not yet been declassified. Not for nothing, on Stalin's order, a number of criminal and political cases were opened, the purpose of which was to destroy the Georgian mafia. Beria was aware of all of Stalin's instructions on this matter, because he had "his own people" in all the authorities. Stalin's opinion about Beria's “personnel policy” is stated in a letter from the head of the investigation unit: “In February 1953 … I was summoned [by Stalin] as one of the participants in the drafting of the indictment in the case of Abakumov (Minister of State Security). … Comrade Stalin said: “We did not trust Abakumov's candidacy. We appointed him at the insistence of Beria. Soon after his appointment, it became clear to the members of the Politburo that Abakumov was not in place. Because of this attitude to the selection of personnel, I dislike Beria and do not trust him … ".
Beria made every effort to quickly close the "Mingrelian case of a nationalist group" after Stalin's death, since it was a real threat to him. After all, it was not only about the separation of Georgia from Russia, but also about entering into a military-political alliance with Western countries. Beria feared that those arrested in this case would testify against him.
Thirty days after Stalin's death, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU received a note from Beria labeled "top secret." It was called - "On the misconduct of the so-called Mingrelian nationalist group." It contained the following sentence: "I consider it necessary … to release all those arrested in the case of the fictional" Mingrelian nationalist group "… in the amount of 37 people from custody with full rehabilitation, and the case against them … to stop."
Under pressure from Beria, without a thorough check, a decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On falsification of the case of the so-called Mingrelian nationalist group" was hastily issued. The document categorically denied the guilt of those arrested in an attempt to liquidate Soviet power in Georgia with the help of foreign states and argued that there had never been a Mingrelian nationalist group.
Today, when the contents of many secret archival documents became known and after the separation of Georgia from Russia as a result of the so-called "perestroika", when pro-NATO revelations are heard in Georgia, it is safe to say that the "Mengrelian case" was not fabricated and all this time people, having nationalist-anti-Russian sentiments, were waiting in the wings to achieve the previously set goals.