In June 2000, by a decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia, the former head of Stalin’s bodyguard, Lieutenant General Nikolai Vlasik, whose biography formed the basis of this article, was posthumously rehabilitated. How did the man find himself in the dock for almost half a century who was in the immediate circle of the leader?
The guy from the Belarusian village
Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik came from a poor peasant family living in the village of Bobynichi in the West of Belarus. He was born on May 22, 1896. Having barely graduated from the three classes of the parish school, the boy lost his parents and was forced to take care of his daily bread himself . As a result, Nikolai began his career at the age of 13 ─ at first as an assistant at a construction site, then as a bricklayer, and after the owner went bankrupt, he got a job as a loader.
When the First World War broke out, Nikolai Vlasik, who had reached his military age by that time, was mobilized and participated in battles as part of the 167th Ostrog Infantry Regiment. For heroism by order of the command, he was awarded the George Cross and promoted to non-commissioned officer. Soon after, Vlasik was appointed commander of one of the platoons of the 251st Infantry Regiment, stationed in Moscow. In this position, he met the October Revolution.
Young employee of the Cheka
In the biography of Nikolai Vlasik, the emphasis is usually made on the fact that his political choice of those years was due primarily to his belonging to the social lower classes of Russian society. It’s hard to disagree. Hardly this semi-literate young man delved into the abstruse torii of Marx, most likely, he internally felt that life gives him a chance to escape from insignificance. His first step on the chosen path was joining the ranks of the RCP (b).
Nikolai Vlasik began the service of the new government in the ranks of the Moscow police, then participated in the battles of the Civil War, was wounded near Tsaritsyn and, finally, became an employee of the Cheka, a body that had truly unlimited powers and left a gloomy memory about itself.
Establishment of a government guard service
Since 1919, he served in the central office of the Cheka, headed by F.E. Dzerzhinsky, and took an active part in operations that became part of the notorious Red Terror, which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russians suspected of disloyalty to the Bolshevik regime. Soon after the conversion of the Cheka to the OGPU, Vlasik took over as senior authorized operational department.
A new turn in the life of the operative occurred in 1927, and the bomb, thrown by unknown persons into the commandant's office in Lubyanka, became the impetus for him. In this regard, a special structure was created to ensure the security of the Kremlin, members of the government, as well as all institutions subordinate to the OGPU. The well-established operative Nikolai Sidorovich Vlasik was appointed the head of this department.
Start a new activity
According to his own recollections, among other duties assigned to him, special importance was given to the protection of I.V. Stalin. In previous years, ensuring the security of the first persons of the state was badly delivered. Even the assassination attempt on Lenin on August 30, 1918 by Fanny Kaplan did not serve as a lesson.
Before Vlasik entered his new position, the only person who accompanied him everywhere was the guard of Stalin - Lithuanian Yusis. In addition, in the 1920s, the future “father of peoples” led an extremely ascetic lifestyle and in life was content with only the most necessary. It is enough to say that at his summer house near Moscow there was not only the proper personnel, but even a regular telephone, and he ate exclusively sandwiches brought from Moscow.
Primary action
Having assumed the duties of the head of the Stalin’s guard, Nikolai Vlasik began precisely with the organization of the life of the head of state. Despite the objections of his ward, he arranged for the delivery of fresh and high-quality products from a nearby state farm, which were immediately available to an experienced chef who underwent a thorough check before his appointment. An extensive staff of servants was also formed, which ensured proper comfort in all areas of the leader's life.
Following this, on the initiative of Nikolai Vlasik, a whole network of Stalin's dachas was created both in the Moscow Region and located in the southern regions of the country, where well-trained personnel were ready to accept the leader at any time and create the most comfortable conditions for rest and work. All these suburban residences were included in the list of the most important state facilities, and were guarded with special care.
Ideas brought to life
Acting not only as the chief of security, but also as Stalin's personal bodyguard, Nikolai Vlasik developed a whole system of measures aimed at ensuring the safety of the first person of the state during official events, trips around the country and international meetings. Being, in fact, a semi-literate person, whose entire education was reduced to 3 classes of a parish school, Vlasik showed outstanding abilities as the head of one of the most important departments, whose work was aimed at protecting state security.
It is curious to note that he was the one who owned the idea of driving the first persons of the state in a cavalcade made up of exactly identical cars. In this case, only the most trusted security officials know which of them is the leader. It was such a simple, but very effective scheme that saved the life of L.I. Brezhnev in 1969 during the attempt on him.
Leader's teacher
A few years after taking office, Vlasik became an indispensable person for Stalin. His role in the leader’s life especially increased after Stalin’s second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, committed suicide in November 1932 (her photo with her daughter Svetlana is in the article), and he took care of children left without a mother: Vasily, Svetlana and adopted son Artyom Sergeev.
As Nikolai Sidorovich wrote later in his memoirs, most of the problems were created for him by Vasily, who was uncontrollable by nature, while Svetlana and Artyom were quiet and obedient children. Not wanting to cause Stalin any unnecessary worries, he tried, as he could, to smooth out in his reports information about the adventures of his unbridled son, but every year it became more difficult to do this.
Nikolai Vlasik, whose personal life was completely subordinated to the interests of the service, practically did not know family joys. In 1934, he married Maria Semenovna Kovbasko, who took his surname and gave birth to his daughter Nadezhda a year later. However, the couple saw each other only in fits and starts, since Nikolai Semyonovich himself was inseparably under Stalin and even always slept in the room next to the leader’s bedroom.
Years of war and beyond
During the Great Patriotic War, Nikolai Vlasik ensured the security of the heads of state who took part in the conferences of countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition. He completed this task with his inherent professionalism, for which he was awarded a number of high government awards.
In 1946, the previously existing structure of the NKVD was transformed into the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and on its basis the Main Directorate of Security was created ─ a state body with an annual budget of 180 million rubles and a staff of tens of thousands of employees. Despite the fact that Nikolai Vlasik became the head of this huge department, life prepared for him in those years the most unpleasant surprise.
Dangerous foe
The fact is that, being for many years in close proximity to Stalin and using his trust, he could influence the adoption of certain important decisions, including those related to personnel changes. Considering the struggle for power that did not stop among the Kremlin elite, it is easy to guess that during his service he made many dangerous enemies.
The main and most powerful of them was Lavrenty Beria ─ the head of the special services of the USSR (photo is in the article). He, like no one else, was interested in getting rid of Vlasik, and for a long time gathered dirt on him, preparing to deliver a sudden blow.
He made his first attempt in 1948. Then the commandant of the "Near Summer Cottage", arrested by him, Fedoseyev slandered Vlasik, showing during interrogation that he was going to poison Stalin. However, this did not work - the leader did not believe in the betrayal of his bodyguard.
New charge
The fateful year for Nikolai Vlasik was 1952, when the real facts of abuses, committed by the staff of many long empty government dachas, were unexpectedly revealed. Besides the fact that they regularly arranged dinners, which turned into real orgies, food and material values were stolen there in huge numbers. Of course, the responsibility fully fell on the head of the department, in whose submission there were persons who compromised themselves.
Beria was hooked on this material and very soon found witnesses who confirmed that Vlasik himself repeatedly relaxed in this way, after which he left with a trunk full of all kinds of delicious food. Such information already looked quite believable.
The end of a brilliant career
As a result, on April 29, 1952, the head of the Security Department and Stalin's personal bodyguard was removed from his post and sent to the Ural city of Asbest as deputy head of the local forced labor camp. But this was, of course, only the first step into the abyss before him.
In December of the same year, he was arrested in connection with the “case of doctors”, because, being the head of the security department, he was responsible for the trustworthiness of the medical staff, against whom far-fetched charges were brought. Already on January 17 of the following year, a meeting of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was held, which found him guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to exile for a term of 10 years. Soon after Stalin's death, the sentence was commuted to 5 years with serving a sentence in one of the regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
last years of life
After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, held in March 1956 and condemning the personality cult of Stalin, many victims of his hateful regime began to go free. Vlasik Nikolai Sidorovich was freed in those days, whose biography was closely connected with the name of the debunked leader. By the decision of the judicial board, he was pardoned and released. The criminal record was dropped from him, but without the restoration of the former military rank of lieutenant general and without the return of government awards.
Vlasik spent the last years of his life in Moscow. He died on June 18, 1967. He was completely rehabilitated only in June 2000, when the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation sentenced in 1955 was quashed “for lack of corpus delicti”.
What did Vlasik really suffer for?
Nikolai Sidorovich, whose personal life was the subject of study by many biographers, was practically discarded by Stalin as waste material. What is the reason for such an act? Perhaps it lies in suspicion, painfully aggravated by the end of the leader’s life. It is also possible that Stalin really wanted to punish Vlasik for drunken revelry and embezzlement of state funds. But most likely that, exchanging former managers at that time for young employees, he came to the conclusion that it was time to get rid of the head of his personal guard. However, there could be other reasons that we do not know about. The life of Nikolai Vlasik still holds many mysteries.