Okhrana

The tsarist secret police that pioneered penetration of revolutionary movements

Overview

The Okhrana, the security department of the Russian imperial police, was built up after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 to combat revolutionary terrorism. It ran networks of informers and agents provocateurs inside revolutionary parties, most notoriously Yevno Azef, who led the Socialist Revolutionary combat organization while on the police payroll. Its foreign agency in Paris watched emigre radicals across Europe and pioneered international police cooperation. The Okhrana was abolished after the February Revolution of 1917, and its techniques of penetration and provocation were studied and adopted by the Cheka.