The Presidential Library spotlighted the role of USSR intelligence services in the fight against fascism in Spain

The Presidential Library continues a series of lectures within the framework of the video lecture Knowledge of Russia, dedicated to the history of the state security agencies of Russia.

The lecture “The first battle with fascism and the role of USSR intelligence services in the defence of the Spanish Republic. 1936–1939" was held on March 28.

On October 1, 1936, Francisco Franco and the National Defence Committee (part of the Spanish army) came to power in Spain. The political regime associated with Franco's rule, according to many researchers, was an authoritarian regime of limited conservative pluralism with features of a military dictatorship. Some historians and political scientists consider Francoism as a type of totalitarianism and fascism.

During the event at the Presidential Library, lecturer Sergei Vasilyevich Rat spoke about the creation of the 14th special partisan corps and the organization of sabotage intelligence work in the rear of the Francoists, as well as the role played by the work of political intelligence agents of the NKVD of the USSR during the Civil War in Spain, in in which the Soviet Union supported the country's republican government in the fight against the right-wing monarchist corps of Francisco Franco.

The second part of the lecture on the fight against fascism in Spain will take place in April and will be devoted to the military intelligence of the General Staff of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army.

The event record is available on the institution’s Rutube-channel.

As part of a series of lectures dedicated to the history of Russian state security agencies, students are told about the main areas of activity of the intelligence services, the specifics of professional activities, the most interesting, significant operations and outstanding employees.