Putin revives Soviet terror architect Dzerzhinsky's legacy amid crackdowns
Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed a new "honorary title" on the academy of Russia's domestic intelligence service, the FSB. From now on, the central training institution for FSB officers and other Russian special services will be known as the Felix Dzerzhinsky Academy, the Kremlin announced.
Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926), a Polish-Soviet revolutionary, was the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, and one of the chief architects of the "Red Terror" following the Russian October Revolution in late 1917. Under his leadership, an estimated 50,000 to 250,000 people were executed in just the first two years of his tenure.
In a statement on the academy's renaming, the Kremlin praised Dzerzhinsky's "outstanding contribution to ensuring state security," framing the move as recognition of the institution's role in training intelligence personnel.
Whitewashing State Terror
The decision is part of the Kremlin's broader effort to downplay Soviet-era state terror—particularly under Joseph Stalin—while criminalizing critical remembrance of the dictatorship. For years, Russia has tightened laws penalizing the "distortion of historical facts."
In this context, Russia banned the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization Memorial in early April. Founded in 1989, Memorial spent nearly four decades documenting long-suppressed crimes of the Stalinist era, compiling archives of gulag prisoners, supporting survivors, and assisting relatives in their searches for the disappeared.
Memorial was first labeled a "foreign agent" in 2016. In 2021, its central Moscow branch was dissolved by a controversial court ruling, forcing many staff into exile. Now, the organization has been shut down entirely—officially on charges of "extremism."
Meanwhile, Felix Dzerzhinsky is being rehabilitated. Two and a half years ago, a new statue of him was unveiled outside the headquarters of Russia's foreign intelligence service. Now, the FSB's training academy has been "honored" with his name. Established in 1992 through the merger of the Border Troops Academy and the KGB's Higher School, the institution had previously borne Dzerzhinsky's name during the Soviet era.
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