history · 22 June 1945 · 79 years ago
Viktor Abakumov wrote to Lavrentiy Beria complaining of Ivan Serov's interference with Soviet SMERSH business. Beria, with Joseph Stalin's approval, instead made Serov the plenipotentiary of all Soviet counterintelligence in Germany, thus expanding NKVD's control over SMERSH in the occupied country. Abakumov refused to allow his subordinates to follow Serov's command, however, thus Serov's authority would only be nominal.
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