Dekanozov, Vladimir Georgevich

(1898–1953)

   One of the better educated of the early Chekists, Dekanozov attended school in Baku in 1915–1916 with Lavrenty Beria and Vsevold Merkulov, for whom he later worked in state security. After serving in the security police in Azerbaijan and Georgia, Dekanozov worked in Communist Party posts under Georgian party boss Beria in 1931–1938. Beria brought Dekanozov with him to Moscow in November 1938, where he served briefly as chief of counterintelligence and then foreign intelligence. In May 1939 Dekanozov transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served in Berlin as ambassador from November 1939 to the outbreak of war on 22 June 1941. Prior to Operation Barbarossa, Dekanozov repeatedly if ineffectually warned Beria about German preparations for war.

   Following World War II, Dekanozov served as Beria’s man in a number of critical positions. Following Joseph Stalin’s death in March, Beria brought Dekanozov back into the security police and assigned him to Georgia to coordinate internal security. Dekanozov was arrested a week after Beria’s fall. He was tried with his longtime mentor and executed with him on 23 December 1953. In 2000 the Russian Supreme Court reversed the sentence to 25 years imprisonment, which allowed Dekanozov’s heirs to claim his estate.