Back وزارة أمن الدولة (الاتحاد السوفيتي) Arabic Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (UdSSR) German Ministerio de la Seguridad del Estado (Unión Soviética) Spanish NSV Liidu Riikliku Julgeoleku Ministeerium Estonian המשרד לביטחון המדינה (ברית המועצות) HE Ministero per la sicurezza dello Stato (Unione Sovietica) Italian КСРО мемлекеттік қауіпсіздік министрлігі Kazakh 국가보안부 Korean PSRS Valsts drošības ministrija Latvian/Lettish MGB NB
The Ministry of State Security (Russian: Министерство государственной безопасности, romanized: Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, IPA: [mʲɪnʲɪˈsʲtʲerstvə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ]), abbreviated as MGB (Russian: МГБ), was a ministry of the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1953 which functioned as the country's secret police. The ministry inherited the intelligence and state security responsibilities of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB). The MGB was led by Viktor Abakumov from 1946 to 1951, then by Semyon Ignatiev until Stalin's death in 1953, upon which it was merged into an enlarged Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).