Chapter 355
Yuri anticipated the complexity of the problem, but he did not expect that the problem would develop so quickly from its emergence to fermentation and finally to the outbreak, so that he was not mentally prepared at all. Of course, even if he had anticipated it, he would not have been able to participate in it. After all, the specifications of this game were still a bit too high-end for him.
Just three days after the Kremlin meeting, the Central Supervisory Committee launched an investigation into the Ministry of Aviation Industry because there were problems with the 20 fighter jets that the Kiev Military District had just received, which seemed to be problems with the fuel injection spark plugs.
This batch of fighter jets were manufactured by Aircraft Manufacturing Plant No. 21, namely the Nizhny Novgorod Aircraft Manufacturing Plant. The quality inspection form for shipment from the factory had the seal of the Ministry of Aviation Industry. To put it bluntly, they had passed the quality inspection of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the Air Force General Headquarters, and had been approved.
Initially, the incident did not cause much trouble because the Central Control Commission had no authority to investigate military affairs. Therefore, it was first submitted to the General Political Department, that is, to Comrade Bulganin.
Bulganin set up a special investigation committee to investigate the problems of this batch of fighter jets. Soon after, the investigation committee came to a conclusion that Sergei Alexandrovich Khudyakov, deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Air Force, was arrested because his signature was on the approval document of the Air Force General Headquarters.
Other military generals arrested along with Hujiakov included Deputy Air Force Commander Repin, who was in charge of air crew, Lieutenant General Seleznev, Director of the Main Directorate of Air Force Equipment Procurement, and Minister of Aviation Industry Alexei Ivanovich Shahulin.
The worst thing is that as the situation escalated, Yuri was also involved in this damn case. Don't forget that he also served as the Minister of the Soviet Army's General Equipment Department. Although he only held a position, he had never been responsible for the corresponding work.
Fortunately, he only held the position and had never been responsible for any corresponding work. He focused all his energy on the specific affairs of the Disarmament Working Committee. In the past few months, he had always been paying attention to the construction of the Palace of Soviets, which everyone knew.
The trick of political struggle is this process: first find the problem, then expand the problem to involve a large number of people, then find someone who is closely related to the target person, and finally use this person to drag the target person into the water. One of the logics is that once there is a problem with a certain person, then all those who have close contact with him should have problems.
But the problem in this struggle is that the target of the struggle may not be in trouble in the end, but those who are innocently implicated in order to attack the target will often die in the struggle.
As the situation escalated, the problem was obviously beyond the control of the General Political Department, so the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs began to intervene in the investigation. However, the person responsible for the in-depth investigation of the case this time was not Beria, but Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov, who suddenly gained the trust of Comrade Stalin.
Comrade Abakumov is a legendary figure who grew up in the Soviet NKVD system. In 1930, he was still an inconspicuous "warehouse manager", that is, a small figure in charge of warehouses. But in the following two years, he entered the NKVD, and in just nine years, he became the deputy NKVD and became Comrade Beria's number one deputy.
Yes, Comrade Abakumov's rapid promotion period was concentrated between 1935 and 1941, so it is not difficult to understand what kind of story is hidden in his resume. I guess anyone can smell a strong smell of blood from him.
In Yuri's opinion, Comrade Abakumov was obviously a man with lofty aspirations. Before the outbreak of the war, his goal was to get promoted within the NKVD. At that time, becoming Comrade Beria's assistant might have been his highest goal. However, after the outbreak of the war, he achieved this goal as he wished and became the de facto second-in-command of the NKVD. Since then, he should have had new goals to pursue.
With the end of the war, Comrade Stalin seemed to have become suspicious of many people who were too close to him, including Malenkov, Khrushchev, and naturally Beria.
In the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, there were two people who could be said to be Beria's right-hand men, one was Abakumov and the other was Vsevolod Nikolayevich Merkulov.
However, when the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was reorganized some time ago, Merkulov was kicked out of the security agency by Stalin. Subsequently, Kuznetsov, the Central Secretary who had just begun to be in charge of national security, kicked the man out of the water and dug up an old case from more than ten years ago, which was tantamount to pushing Merkulov into the quagmire. This poor guy is still under investigation, and it is unknown how long it will take for him to resume work.
Without Merkulov, Beria was like having one of his arms cut off. What's even more tragic is that Abakumov has now become disobedient. He has taken away a lot of power from Beria. To be more precise, Beria has now actually lost effective control over the NKVD during the reorganization process, and his authority within the national security system is far less strong than before.
But then again, compared to Abakumov, who climbed up on blood, Merkulov was actually a pretty good person. He was a bit weak in character, and in this respect, he was not suitable for a position in the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, where people who were not vicious enough could not survive. The reason why Kuznetsov was able to overthrow this man was because he did not do a good enough job in executing the so-called "Trotskyists".
In Yuri's opinion, Zhdanov and his people have been making bigger and bigger moves and their attacks have been getting more and more ruthless in recent times. They have taken advantage of the reorganization of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs to openly reach into the national security system. This is a very critical point. Once they have gained a foothold in this system, it will be much easier for them to deal with anyone they want to deal with next.
…
After the summer, the weather in Moscow began to get colder day by day. According to the advice of engineering experts, the construction of the Palace of Soviets would need to be temporarily stopped in another month. If construction continued in cold weather, it would have a great impact on the quality of the project.
After working day and night, the base of the Palace of Soviets has been completed, and the main building has been built to more than ten floors. Its magnificent momentum has begun to emerge. This achievement is considered very good.
Yesterday, Comrade Stalin, accompanied by Yuri, made a short inspection of the construction work of the Palace of Soviets. It can be seen that Comrade Stalin is very satisfied with the progress of the project.
In today's Soviet Union, Comrade 's reputation is getting higher and higher, and the level of personal worship has reached its peak. He just took a walk around the construction site, and the construction workers and engineering experts were like chicken blood, so excited that the drizzle that started early this morning could not extinguish these guys' high work enthusiasm.
In the early morning, the drizzle that brought the cool autumn breeze showed no sign of stopping. As usual, after leaving the villa area, Yuri took his own car to take a tour of the construction site of the Palace of Soviets. Afterwards, he did not go to the Disarmament Working Committee, but drove directly to Lubyanka Square - according to the notice he received yesterday, the General Political Department asked him to go to the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs for a simple "consultation."
After a period of departmental reorganization, the NKVD was split into two departments, one for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the other for the Ministry of State Security. Beria was removed from his post as NKVD and became the representative of the Central Presidium, coordinating the work of the two departments. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was replaced by Sergei Nikiforovich Kruglov, while the head of the Ministry of State Security was Abakumov.
Although Beria, as a representative of the Central Presidium, was in charge of the work of the two departments, his powers were restricted by Kuznetsov, who was in charge of national security. This overlapping arrangement of powers greatly weakened Beria's authority.
Kruglov was also an old member of the NKVD, with more than 20 years of experience in this department. However, he was mainly responsible for personnel work in the past and lacked experience in various struggles. However, even so, after taking office as Minister of Internal Affairs, this guy quickly showed a tendency to break away from Beria. With the addition of Abakumov, Beria's life had actually become very difficult.
From this perspective, it is actually unrealistic for later generations to blame Beria for Moscow's purge of the Leningrad faction after Zhdanov's death, because he was not able to regain power in the Soviet national security system until around 1951, after he had killed Abakumov and squeezed out Kruglov, and Kuznetsov had already been executed.
Of course, Yuri doesn't know all this yet. He is now rushing to deal with that guy Abakumov. Today's "consultation" with him was presided over by Comrade Abakumov himself.
After the reorganization of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the authority of both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of State Security was greatly weakened. They did not have the power to directly summon Soviet marshals like Yuri, so the notification was issued by the General Political Department.
