První garnitura sovětských poradců v Praze.
The first group of Soviet advisors in Prague:

Taking control of and directing the Czechoslovak security apparatus, 1949–1953

Summary/Abstract: As in other Soviet Bloc countries, Soviet advisors and specialists deployed at individual ministries were the key instrument of Sovietisation of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Their influence was frequently stronger than the word of ministers and other functionaries. The first advisors sent by the Ministry of State Security of the USSR (MGB) to Prague were Col. V. Makarov (Komarov) and Col. M. Lichachev, who came to oversee show trials and introduced various forms of repression into the security apparatus’s methods. In 1950 they were replaced by a new group of advisors headed by Col. V. A. Boyarsky, which gradually focused on organising the Rudolf Slánský show trial. Thanks to a growing number of advisors and specialists, the Ministry of the Interior (in 1950–1953 the Ministry for National Security) became fully subordinate to MGB HQ in Moscow. The advisors succeeded in creating an atmosphere of general distrust and fear in Czechoslovakia and built up a network of collaborators, where necessary operating behind the backs of their own superiors and senior functionaries. In that way they helped create an international security apparatus run from Moscow that was able to operate independently throughout the Soviet Bloc.

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