Ivan Ksenofontov

Ivan Ksenofontov
Deputy Chief of the Cheka
In office
27 March 1919 – 12 April 1921
Prime MinisterVladimir Lenin
Preceded byJēkabs Peterss
Succeeded byJózef Unszlicht
Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
In office
1917–1920
Member of the Russian Constituent Assembly
In office
28 November 1917 – 5 January 1918
Personal details
Born29 August 1884
Died23 March 1926 (aged 41)
CitizenshipRussian Empire
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Soviet Union
PartyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (1917-1937)
Other political
affiliations
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (1903-1917)
SpouseIrina Ksenofontova
ChildrenNikolai and Boris
ProfessionStatesman and revolutionary
Military service
Allegiance Russian Empire (1906–1908) (1914–1917)
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1918–1922)
Soviet Union (1922–1925)
Branch/serviceImperial Russian Army
Cheka
GPU
OGPU
Battles/warsWorld War I
Russian Civil War
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Ivan Ksenofontovich Ksenofontov (Russian: Иван Ксенофонтович Ксенофонтов; August 29, 1884 – March 23, 1926) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and one of the founders of the Soviet secret police and state security agency, the Cheka (later GPU and OGPU).

He gained notoriety as Chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal and later as First Deputy Chairman of the Cheka, the agency's "number two" under Felix Dzerzhinsky, where he played a decisive role in crushing various anti-Bolshevik factions and the Kronstadt uprising. An early supporter of Joseph Stalin, he was described as Stalin's "mole" in the security services.