Inostranniy Otdel

(IO)(Ino)

   The Foreign Department of the Cheka, the Inostranniy otdel, or IO, was created on 20 December 1920. Its first director was a veteran of Communist Party underground activity, Yakov Davtyan, who operated under the alias “Davidov.” The first rezidentura was opened in Berlin in 1922. By the mid 1920s, the IO had established a presence in London, Brussels, Rome, Istanbul, Montreal, and New York. The initial responsibility of the organization was the identification of émigré groups operating in the territory of the Soviet Union. From the beginning, the British were identified as the main adversary, and efforts were made to recruit sources with access to British policies. Davtyan lasted less than two years as chief of the service before returning to work as a Comintern representative. He was executed in 1938, like many of the founders of the IO.

   See also Illegals; Trilisser, Mikhail.