The Work of the Secret Police. Special Operations, Recruitment Methods, Tactics of Combat, Conducting Operational and Search Activities of the Imperial Security Police

Pavel Pavlovich Zavarzin is a Russian gendarmerie officer, major-general of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes. The book by a secret police officer recounts the activities of the Imperial Security Police, containing detailed information about the work of professional revolutionaries. It describes methods of infiltrating agents into the criminal environment and external surveillance. We learn that the secret police is a counter-revolutionary and counter-terrorist organization and was not just engaged in capturing ordinary criminals. Its task was to identify spies and enemies of the regime, for which the infiltrated agents were tasked, as well as checking correspondence to maintain statehood in Russia. The narrative is rich and vivid, recounting both successful and failed operations, recruitment methods, combat tactics, and conducting operational and search activities.
Zavarzin had an immense investigative experience, rising through the ranks from adjutant to head of department, but after the February Revolution of 1917, all gendarmerie divisions were urgently liquidated by the decision of the Provisional Government, archives were burned, and the leadership was arrested. The author did not escape this fate either. After his release, he emigrated to France, where he wrote his memoirs about working in the special service. The information presented in the book is authentic and very interesting for researchers studying the confrontation of the domestic special services with extremist organizations.