Not everyone can do the work of organizing the security of an authoritarian regime. Special personal qualities are required, the main of which has always been cruelty. The tyrant, by its nature, needs fear; this boundless power is based on this feeling.
But no matter how difficult this service is, there is always someone who is ready to carry it. An inconspicuous silhouette of the head of the secret police looms from behind the backs of each dictator with unlimited powers. In documentary shots of the 1930s, behind a gray Stalinist jacket, no, no, and the absurd figure of Yezhov in a tunic, belted by a wide officer waist, will flash, and because of Hitler's sloping shoulder the pince-nez of the glorious Henry will flash.
There was someone to watch behind the stoop of Ivan IV, not without reason called the Terrible. Gregory Belsky reliably provided him with the opportunity to reign without fear of unrest and conspiracy. The biography of Malyuta Skuratov, and such was the "creative pseudonym" of this head of the security forces at the court of the formidable autocrat, is typical of the master's shoulder cases of any era.
Gregory was born either from near Smolensk, or from Pereslavl-Zalessky. The difficulty in determining the origin of the outstanding executioner is that it must be judged by indirect sources. Personal affairs during the reign of Ivan the Terrible did not start, and the chronicle, that is, the fixing of historical facts, in 1568 was generally prohibited by a special royal decree. Compliance with this order was to be monitored by Belsky himself. Thus, the biography of Malyuta Skuratov, especially the events of his youth, seems vague. He supposedly had two brothers, Nezhdan and Yakov, but their fate is unknown.
It is mistakenly believed that Grigory (Malyuta is a nickname meaning “stunted”, and the word “scurat” is translated into modern language as rough skin, obviously, a hint of an unhealthy complexion) created the secret police of Ivan the Terrible, a kind of special forces, recruiting people into it unprincipled and cruel. This is not so, he made a career already in this state body, created by Alexei Basmanov, Vasily Yuriev and Athanasius Vyazemsky. These three nobles announced a peculiar contest, which was attended by twelve thousand volunteers, so there were no problems with personnel for the future power department. The number of vacancies was initially determined at 570 staff units. One of them was occupied by Malyuta Skuratov. Oprichnina first accepted him coolly, the position was low, just a sexton.
However, natural cruelty contributed to career advancement. In Gubin, the fiefdom of the boyar Chelyadnin-Fedorov, who fell into disgrace, the sexton “finished” (the so-called execution of a court judgment) immediately 39 people. And after he distinguished himself also in delivering women to the highest court intended for perverse royal pleasures, the biography of Malyuta Skuratov made a sharp turn. Together with Ivan the Terrible, he began to take part in torture, he was entrusted with the arrest of not someone, but the cousin of the tsar, Prince Staritsky.
It is quite possible that some of the conspiracies were inspired or staged by the head of the special services in order to once again prove their need and usefulness. The enthusiasm of the new chief of the secret police reached the point that he was engaged in his beloved business with virtually no rest. Malyuta Skuratov’s house became a branch of his workplace. The most cynical of the reprisals that he made during his life full of professional achievements was the assassination of Metropolitan Philip, who fearlessly opposed tsarist arbitrariness.
In the Stalin years, the biography of Malyuta Skuratov underwent a certain editing, through which historians of the 30s tried to create the image of Ivan the Terrible as a strict but generally positive ruler and statesman. With this view of historical events, the state security issues should have been dealt with by a stern, strong-willed, but generally pretty person. The death of Malyuta during the storming of the Weissenstein castle became, as it were, the heroic end of the life of an “outstanding figure of the era”.
In fairness, one cannot but note the disinterestedness of Grigory Malyuta Skuratov-Belsky. He didn’t make any riches; Ivan IV even appointed a pension to his widow, which he usually didn’t.