KGB Chairs

1917–1991

• Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky 1917–1926

• Vyacheslav Rudolovich Menzhinsky 1926–1934

• Genrykh Grigoreyevich Yagoda 1934–1936

• Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov 1936–1938

• Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria 1938–1941

• Vsevold Nikolaevich Merkulov 1941 (February–July)

• Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria 1941–1943

• Vsevold Nikolaevich Merkulov 1943–1946

• Viktor Semenovich Abakumov 1946–1951

• Semyon Denisovich Ignatev 1951–1953

• Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria 1953 (March–June)

• Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov 1953–1954

• Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov 1954–1958

• Aleksandr Nikolaevich Shelepin 1958–1961

• Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastniy 1961–1967

• Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov 1967–1982

• Vitalii Vasilevich Fedorchuk 1982 (May–December)

• Viktor Mikhailovich Chebrikov 1982–1988

• Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kryuchkov 1988–1991

• Vadim Viktorovich Bakatin 1991 (August–December)