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(article about E.P. Mednikov, the legendary chief of the “flying detachment of spies”, published in the collection “Gendarmes of Russia”)

Anatoly Fomushkin

CHIEF FILE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE E. P. MEDNIKOV

There's nothing secret that
It wouldn't become obvious and nothing
There is no such thing as something hidden
It wouldn't come out.

Gospel of Mark

The fate of this extraordinary man is amazing: a genius who went through a thorny path from the very bottom of police detectives and reached the highest peak in the gendarmerie firmament. His dizzying career in the field of external surveillance was a constantThe envy of many high-ranking officials in the Police Department. At the same time, he inspired the respect of just as many with his highest professionalism.

Evstratiy Pavlovich, according to available data, was born in December 1856. He came from Yaroslavl merchants, distinguished by their ingenuity, cunning and cunning.

His sedate and sober lifestyle was determined by his belonging to the Old Believers, who did not allow the use of wine and tobacco. But for several decades, nothing foreshadowed his future truly all-Russian fame, even in a narrow circle of political intelligence specialists.

After his military service, which he completed as a non-commissioned officer, Evstrat settled in Moscow. He served as a city policeman, a police supervisor, and had his own house and farmstead. Everything is like hundreds and thousands like him. In the late 80s of the 19th century, Mednikov was recruited to serve in the Moscow Security Department as an ordinary spy. Again, there was nothing unusual here. Former soldiers were willingly hired as surveillance agents.

But here his meeting with Zubatov took place. A former participant in revolutionary circles, Sergei, at the age of 22, was recruited by the then head of the Moscow Security Department, Captain N.S. Berdyaev, as a paid agent of internal surveillance. Three years later, in 1889, the agent became a legal official of the Police Department and Berdyaev’s assistant. At the age of 32, in 1896, Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov was appointed head of the Moscow Security Department. The new leader had many fresh ideas for reforming political investigation, including external surveillance. Soon after his appointment, Zubatov creates a “Special Detachment of Surveillance Agents” (a flying detachment of spies) to carry out surveillance and make arrests not only in Moscow, but also in Odessa, St. Petersburg and Kharkov. E.P. Mednikov became the head of this division. The talent of a leader allowed Zubatov not to pay attention to formal obstacles: lower education, low rank and similar obstacles.

The choice turned out to be extremely successful. Already at the very beginning of its activities, the “flying squad” carried out a number of successful operations that made Mednikov’s name famous in the circles of the Police Department. So, on June 24, 1896, an illegal printing house was liquidated in one of the suburbs of St. Petersburg. The operation was preceded by close external surveillance. It was carried out by 15 experienced spies, half of the “flying squad”. For the sake of truth, we note that Zubatov ordered such forces to be sent to the capital only after receiving reliable information about the existence of the printing house from the provocateur Gurovich.

The future gendarme general A.I. Spiridovich described his first meeting with Mednikov in the premises of the Moscow security department (Gnezdnikovsky lane, 5): “A well-fed, average-height civilian with a full, healthy, ruddy face, a beard, a mustache, and long brown hair back, rises towards him.” , blue calm eyes... The voice is calm, melodious, a little rustic.” Those who knew Mednikov agreed that he owed his advancement to his natural intelligence, intelligence, cunning, ability to work and perseverance. He treated outdoor surveillance as a job that had to be done conscientiously, using the skills of a merchant, soldier and hunter. For ordinary spies, he was one of their own, a person they understood, who knew how to speak their language. As a result, Mednikov created his own, as they said then, “Evstratkina” school.

The detectives knew that it was impossible for their boss to “put the blame on his ears.” And if, when checking financial statements, he calmly said: “Take off fifty dollars: you’re paying too much for the cab driver,” then the agent “threw off”, knowing that, firstly. Evstratiy Pavlovich is right, and secondly, all sorts of disputes are useless anyway. This is how the same memoirist relayed the scene of Mednikov receiving messages from the spies: “It’s twelve o’clock at night. A huge low room with a large oak table in the middle is full of filers. Young, elderly and old, with weathered faces, they stand around the walls in the usual pose - with their legs apart and their hands behind them.

Each one in turn reports observation data to Mednikov and then submits a note where what was said is noted by hour and minute, with a note of money spent on service.

What about the Wolf? - Mednikov asks one of the detectives.

“The wolf, Evstratiy Pavlovich,” he answers, “is very careful.” The exit checks: when entering somewhere, it also checks, and again at turns, around corners sometimes too. Grated.

“Rivet,” reports another, “like a hare, he runs around, sees nothing, no conspiracy, completely stupid...

Mednikov carefully listens to reports about all these Rivets, Wolves, Smart, Fast and Jackdaws... He draws conclusions, then nods his head approvingly, then expresses dissatisfaction. So he approached the spy, who apparently liked to drink. He looks embarrassed, is silent, as if he feels that he has done something wrong.

Well, report back! - Mednikov says ironically. Confused and stuttering, the agent begins to explain how he and another agent Aksenov watched “Kulik”, how “Kulik” entered “Kozikhinsky Lane, building No. 3, but never came out, they didn’t wait for him.”

“It never came out,” Mednikov continues to sneer.

Didn't come out, Evstratiy Pavlovich.

How long have you been waiting for him?

Long, Evstratiy Pavlovich.

Until when?

Until eleven, Evstratiy Pavlovich.

Here Mednikov can no longer stand it any longer. He already knows from the senior that the spies left the post at about 7 o’clock, without waiting for the person under observation to leave, which is why he was not carried out further. And “Kulik” was supposed to have an interesting meeting in the evening with a revolutionary “visiting” to Moscow, who had to be identified. Now this unknown “newcomer” has been missed.

Turning purple, Mednikov grabs the policeman’s face with his hand and begins calmly stabbing him. He just hums and, finally freeing himself with his head, sobs: “Evstratiy Pavlovich, forgive me, it’s my fault.” “You’re guilty, you bastard, just say that you’re guilty, speak straight, and don’t lie! You’re too young to lie to me. Got it, you’re young!” Mednikov said emphatically. “Stupid!” and poking again once, more for show, Mednikov, having already mastered himself, says calmly: a fine for both of them! And next time - get out, don’t lie! You can’t lie in our service - blame yourself, repent, and don’t lie! "" This scene contains all of Mednikov: with his level of education and upbringing, with his concepts of duty and service.

In 1902, Mednikov's patron S.V. Zubatov was transferred to St. Petersburg and soon became the head of the special department of the Police Department. Apparently, not without the latter’s help, Evstratiy Pavlovich also moved to the capital and was appointed “head of external surveillance for all of Russia.” By the highest order, the former non-commissioned officer was awarded personal nobility (became a court councilor - the rank of the seventh class). His salary was 6,000 rubles per year, which exceeded the salary of many officials of much higher rank.

Following Mednikov, many of his employees and students began to make careers. With the organization in 1902 of new security departments (search centers) throughout the country, part of the Moscow detachment's spies were seconded to these units by the heads of the external surveillance service. About 20 people were transferred to the capital and became part of the “flying squad” under the Police Department.

Mednikov's correspondence from this period with a number of heads of local security units and heads of external surveillance services has been preserved. It testifies to the unprecedentedly increased authority of Evstratiy Pavlovich. His former spies remained faithful to their teacher and in their detailed reports reported not only about their area of ​​​​work, but in general about everything that was done in the investigative part on the ground. As a result, a peculiar situation was created where the heads of security departments and search centers often fell under the vigilant control and supervision of Mednikov. As a result, they also preferred to correspond with him privately. While sending a report to the director of the Police Department, these people simultaneously sent a letter to Mednikov.

In addition to the feeling of a certain dependence, there was something else: respect for professionalism. Gendarmerie General P.P. Zavarzin recalled this in exile. Having served in the gendarme corps for 20 years, at one time heading the Gomel and Odessa search centers, the Chisinau, Warsaw, Don and Moscow security departments, he first met Mednikov in 1903 on the occasion of his appointment to the post of head of the Chisinau security department. Almost 30 years later, Zavarzin described Mednikov this way: “A completely unintelligent person, illiterate, a former spy from non-commissioned officers, who used common expressions taken from his native village... From the very first words and explanations about the technique of spy observation, it became clear to me that this an extremely subtle and observant person, a master of his craft, who has trained a whole generation of agents, selected and drawn into the work.”

The heads of the local search in letters to Mednikov reported on their successes and asked for advice and support. For example, the already mentioned more than once A.I. Spiridovich on April 12, 1903 (he was at that time the head of the Kyiv security department) telegraphed Mednikov: “On the night of the 11th, 32 apartments were searched in Berdichev, 30 people were arrested, eight were caught red-handed...” The colonel reported the details in a letter: “Dear Evstratiy Pavlovich! On the 11th, liquidation was carried out in Berdichev... the spies did a very difficult job, according to Ignatius Nikolaevich[one of his assistants. - A.F.], they performed extremely well.”

His chief Bobrov wrote to Mednikov about the work of the spies and in general about the activities of the Saratov security department after May 1, 1903: “Dear Evstratiy Pavlovich! I allow myself to turn

to you with my most humble request. Dear detectives to my and your hearts, we rejoice that despite the difficulties of the search service in the city of Saratov, complicated by the lack of janitors, the poor management of house books and the habit of local residents to build several dozen outbuildings in the courtyard of someone else’s house, which shares the same and the same numbering, but different books - we managed to snatch both the main leaders of the revolutionary movement and also prevent the demonstration being prepared for May 1st.”

Further, the author listed in detail the settlements where the “liquidations” took place, mentioned the specific successes of the spies Chebanov, Kurdyukov, who detained on April 30 “the main agitator among the workers, A. Kireev.” The latter carried proclamations calling for the celebration of May 1st. When leaving the house, he began to pull up his trousers, turn around and thereby “gave him the opportunity to decide that he took everything from there.” The letter also identifies the spies Shirokov, Egorov, Gudushkin (mounted surveillance agent), who captured carpenter A. Filippov with appeals, who “intended to kill everyone who dared to approach him.” During the search, a Smith & Weson revolver with five live rounds was seized from Filippov. He did not have time to use his weapon because of the policeman Gudushkin, who cut his way.

The end of the letter is characteristic of that time and communication environment. “The presented results, in connection with the previous activities of the ranks of the department, give me the courage to turn to you, dear Evstratiy Pavlovich, with a petition for encouragement in the “boss’ way” [the above-mentioned agents are listed], as well as the rest of the ranks of the department, who have equally worked for the benefit our difficult activities. I allow myself to count that you will report the above to both His Excellency Mr. Director of the Department and the highly respected Sergei Vasilyevich [Zubatov], before whom you will support my petition.”

Mednikov’s own letters to the heads of external surveillance also very clearly testify to his remarkable business and economic qualities. This is what he, in particular, wrote to his long-time acquaintance, the head of external surveillance of the Odessa security department, Nikita Timofeevich Sotinkov (we have preserved the style, spelling and syntax. - A.F.).

“Timofeevich, since the department is responsible for external surveillance, they took upon themselves the organization of external surveillance, for which they appointed worthy people to manage the said surveillance in the search departments, that is, senior spies who conduct surveillance, draft diaries, they write according to rules the diaries, the head of external surveillance in the empire, then the elders are also charged with the duty of selecting people to serve in their department, as well as distributing their salaries, as well as checking the accounts of expenses spent on service matters.

The Odessa branch relies on approximately 25 people as observation agents (they are no longer called spies), who receive a salary of 1500, i.e. 50 rubles per district. per month, and you also need 4500 for 25 hours for expenses, i.e. 15 rubles each. per month. This amount was allocated for 25 hours, but we must remember that everyone’s salary is 50 rubles. If you can’t spend it anyway, then you have to do it this way: you’re a hundred, therefore you’re already 10 people. they receive 45 rubles each, Baikov 60 rubles, two more 45 rubles; I think we should take 30 rubles first, then add 5 rubles to the best ones. in half a year, but always keep the figure with the remainder, saving from the salary. In my opinion, it should be like this: 5 hours for 30 rubles, 5 for 35 rubles, 5 for 40 rubles, 5 for 45 rubles, and the rest are at a higher content, and the best ones should be added immediately. Of the 25, keep two for information about the city, like police supervisors, but entirely at your disposal, that is, they work according to instructions and under your leadership, and there should be nothing more than that.

Now expenses are calculated at 15 rubles. for each, but you don’t have to do this so that these 15 rubles. and give it to the officers, and let them do as we do in Moscow. When receiving the information, they write down how much someone spent during the day, and in the end it should not exceed 15 rubles. for each, that is, some will have 7 rubles, some will have 15 rubles, and some will have 25 rubles, but some will have very little.

This expenditure must be carried out evenly and carefully, spending no more than 375 rubles in each month, i.e. 12 rubles daily. 50 k.

So make a list for every day and mark the columns every day, you will have totals and know how much savings you have left. When you have a lot to spare, be more zealous, and when you are short, be more stingy, and you should always have a savings reserve of 100 rubles for emergency needs, or in times of need, give more for expenses.

And your salary per year is 1250 rubles, then you make a list of people and make a salary for this amount, i.e., as stated above, by calculation, so that with the remaining 20 rubles it will be enough to reach 1250 rubles. In this way, you will always be aware of your money, you will maneuver perfectly, even from the remainder of your savings you can give out awards to people at Christmas.

Introduce people to the authorities for enrollment who are young, beautiful, developed, intelligent and straight from military service, that is, the most disciplined; if they are good, then for the first time I should give not 30 rubles, but 35 rubles, as the best. If there are good spies, you’ll do a better job yourself, which means you’ll get a reward according to your merits.”

From this letter it is clear that Mednikov, while caring about the affairs of the service, knew how to not forget about his personal interests. Therefore, we will not hide the fact that different people spoke differently about Evstratiy Pavlovich. A certain official, hiding under the pseudonym A.P., wrote: “Mednikov was previously a tavern keeper, then a simple policeman and finally a detective... He made a large fortune in the service. He cohabited with a former employee, Ekaterina Grigorievna.”

Even A.I. Spiridovich, who so admired Mednikov, could not resist critical words about his economic and financial affairs: “Mednikov was also in charge of the cabman’s dealership, where there were several trips... Mednikov had a cash register in his hands... He had all the payments... Working for ten people and often spending the night in the department on a leather sofa, he at the same time time did not miss his private interests. Near Moscow he had an estate with bulls, cows and ducks, he had a house, he had everything. Labor hands were free,- Do whatever you want". Apparently, these judgments also had their share of truth. It is also curious that after the removal of Zubatov in 1903, Mednikov continued to serve under several ministers: Plehve, Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky, Bulygin, Durnovo and Stolypin.

Evstratiy Pavlovich's stellar career ended in 1909. He fell ill with mental illness. Some authors associate such an unusual disease for a person of his origin and biography with the story of L.P. Menshikov. Leonid Petrovich was a person close to Evstratiy Pavlovich for a number of years. He served in the secret police for 20 years. Arrested in 1887 as a member of one of the revolutionary organizations. Leonid gave frank testimony. He was released and soon, at the request of the same Zubatov, he was enrolled as a spy in the Moscow Security Department.

It soon became clear that the new employee had a “quick pen” and he was transferred to the office. Here he analyzed intelligence reports, compiled reviews and reports for the Police Department. In 1905, Leonid Petrovich took a decisive step: in an anonymous letter to the leadership of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, he reported on the provocative activities of Azef and Tatarov. The Social Revolutionaries did not believe this at that moment. In 1906, L.P. Menshikov retired with a pension of 1,300 rubles a year. But the mental breakdown continued. In 1909, he left Russia, met with V.L. Burtsev, the famous “hunter” of provocateurs, and deciphered 275 secret secret agents of the secret police. The scandal was enormous.

This was a severe shock for Mednikov. Due to illness he was retired. But he did not live long after that and died in one of the psychiatric clinics in St. Petersburg.

Evstratiy (Evstrat) Pavlovich Mednikov(December 1853, Yaroslavl - December 2, 1914, St. Petersburg) - figure in Russian political investigation, ally of S.V. Zubatov, creator of the school of surveillance agents.

Biography

Born in 1853 in the family of a Yaroslavl peasant merchant from the Old Believers. He graduated from the parochial school. After completing military service, in 1881, he retired to the reserve with the rank of non-commissioned officer. In the same year, he entered the police service as a freelance police officer. After the creation of the Moscow Security Department, he went to work there as a spy - an external surveillance agent. In a short time he went through the entire police service and soon became an orderly, instructor and controller. In 1890, he headed all the spying work of the Moscow Security Department. While working in the Moscow Security Department, he created the best school of spies in Russia, which was called “Mednikovskaya”. For success in his service, he received the rank of senior official for assignments and was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir and received a certificate of nobility.

After the Moscow Security Department was headed by Sergei Zubatov, Mednikov became his closest assistant and right hand. Mednikov maintained a safe house where Zubatov met with his secret agents. At the same time, he managed the cash desk of the Moscow Security Department, thanks to which he made a good fortune. In all disclosures carried out by the department, the role of external surveillance was very large. Therefore, the joint work of Zubatov, who was in charge of internal agents, and Mednikov, who was in charge of external surveillance, allowed the Moscow Security Department to move to first place in the matter of political investigation in Russia. “These two people, Zubatov and Mednikov, constituted something unified, the very essence of the Moscow branch, its main lever,” recalled Zubatov’s student A.I. Spiridovich.

In 1894, a special “Flying Detachment of Spies,” or “Special Detachment of Observation Agents,” was created at the Moscow Security Department, headed by Mednikov, subordinate directly to the Police Department. On behalf of the Police Department, the “Flying Squad” traveled throughout Russia and developed intelligence information, supplementing it with surveillance data. Mednikov’s “Flying Squad” was entrusted with the most important tasks of searching for revolutionaries in all regions of the empire. According to A.I. Spiridovich, Mednikov’s spies were distinguished by high professionalism and were not inferior to professional revolutionaries in their ability to secrecy. After the reform of the political investigation system in 1903, spies from Mednikov’s “Flying Squad” were appointed heads of external surveillance in all newly opened security departments.

In 1902, S.V. Zubatov was transferred to St. Petersburg, where he headed the Special Department of the Police Department. Zubatov also took Mednikov with him to his new duty station, who was appointed head of external surveillance of the Police Department. In this post, Mednikov outlived Zubatov. After Zubatov was dismissed in 1903 due to a personal quarrel with Minister V.K. Plehve, Mednikov retained his place and remained in his post until 1906. The demand for Mednikov as a specialist was so great that he managed to maintain his position under six ministers of internal affairs: Sipyagin, Pleve, Svyatopolk-Mirsky, Bulygin, Durnovo and Stolypin.

In 1906, Mednikov retired with the rank of court councilor with the right of hereditary nobility. He settled on his estate in the Gorokhovetsky district of the Vladimir province, where he was engaged in agriculture. Until the last years of his life, he maintained correspondence with Sergei Zubatov and his students regarding the police investigation. In 1910, Mednikov fell ill with a serious mental illness and was treated in a psychiatric hospital until 1913. Some authors associate Mednikov's mental illness with the betrayal of L.P. Menshchikov, who for 20 years was his close ally, and in 1909 went over to the side of the revolutionaries and began publishing lists of secret agents of the Police Department abroad. For Mednikov this was a heavy blow.

And Zavarzina P.P - “Mednikov’s spies were distinguished by high professionalism and in their ability to secrecy were not inferior to professional revolutionaries.”

Mednikov Evstratiy Pavlovich, as a professional specialist of the highest class, was in great demand in the criminal investigation police, despite the change of six ministers of internal affairs (Sipyagin, Pleve, Svyatopolk-Mirsky, Bulygin, Durnovo and Stolypin), he managed to maintain his position until the end of his career in the Moscow Security Department.

A spy is a detective, agent of the Security Branch or criminal investigation police in the Russian Empire of the late 19th century - early 20th century, whose duties included conducting external surveillance and secretly collecting information about persons of interest.

Filer F. Krylov in common folk clothes. 1903

A separate Special Detachment of Observation Agents or the "Flying Detachment of Spies" was used in special responsible political cases to search for revolutionaries in all provinces of the Russian Empire; the "Flying Detachment of Spies" led by Mednikov was subordinated directly to the Police Department of the Russian Empire.

A group of spies and heads of external surveillance services in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Memories from the memoirs of Spiridovich A.I. "Notes of a Gendarme":

“Zubatov’s right hand was Evstratiy Pavlovich Mednikov, a man at that time about fifty years old. He was in charge of surveillance agents, or spies, who, observing the persons given to them on the streets, found out outwardly what they were doing, with whom
met and what places they visited. External surveillance developed data from internal agents.
Mednikov was a simple, illiterate man, an Old Believer, who had previously served as a police supervisor. His natural intelligence, intelligence, cunning, ability to work and perseverance brought him to the forefront. He understood filibustering as a contract for work, went through it with hump and soon became an orderly, instructor and controller. He created his own school in this matter - the Mednikovsky, or as they said then, the “Evstratkina” school. His own for the spies, who were mostly soldiers even then, he knew and understood them well, knew how to talk, get along and manage with them.

Twelve o'clock at night. A huge low room with a large oak table in the middle is full of filers. Young, elderly and old, with weathered faces, they stand around the walls in the usual pose - with their legs apart and their hands behind them. Each one in turn reports observation data to Mednikov and then submits a note where what was said is noted by hour and minute, with a note of money spent on service.

What about the Wolf? - Mednikov asks one of the detectives.

“The wolf, Evstratiy Pavlovich,” he answers, “is very careful.” The exit checks when entering somewhere, and it also checks, again, at turns, and sometimes around corners too. Grated.

“Rivet,” reports another, “like a hare, he runs around, sees nothing, no conspiracy, completely stupid...

Mednikov listens attentively to the reports about all these Rivets, Wolves, Smart, Fast and Jackdaws - these are the nicknames of all those who were observed. He makes conclusions, then nods his head approvingly, then expresses dissatisfaction.
But then he approached the spy, who apparently liked to drink. He looks embarrassed; He’s silent, as if he feels like he’s done something wrong.

Well, report back! - Mednikov says ironically.

Confused and stuttering, the agent begins to explain how he and another agent Aksenov watched “Kulik”, how Kulik went to “Kozikhinsky Lane, building No. 3, but never came out, they didn’t wait for him.”

“It never came out,” Mednikov continues to sneer.
- He didn’t come out, Evstratiy Pavlovich.
- How long have you been waiting for him?
- Long time, Evstratiy Pavlovich.
- Until when?
- Until eleven, Evstratiy Pavlovich.

Here Mednikov can no longer stand it any longer. He already knows from the elder that the spies left their post for the pub at about 7 o’clock, without waiting for the person under observation to leave, which is why he was not followed through further. And “Kulik” was supposed to have an interesting meeting in the evening with a revolutionary “visiting” to Moscow, who needed
install. Now this unknown “newcomer” has been missed.

Turning purple, Mednikov grabs the policeman’s face with his hand and begins calmly stabbing him. He just hums and, finally freeing himself with his head, sobs:

Evstratiy Pavlovich, excuse me, it’s my fault.

You're guilty, you bastard, just say you're guilty, speak straight, don't lie! You're too young to lie to me. Got it, you're young! - Mednikov said with emphasis. - Stupid! - and poking again, more for show, Mednikov, who had already mastered himself, said
calmly: - A fine for both! And next time - out; straight out, don't lie! In our service you cannot lie. If you didn’t finish it, blame yourself, repent, don’t lie!

This reprisal is personal; its own, Evstratkina system. Only the detectives and Mednikov knew what was happening in the police station. There are rewards, punishments, salary increases, fines, and expenses, i.e. payment of what is spent on service, what
it is difficult to take into account and that entirely depends on Mednikov.

Having looked at the consumption, Mednikov usually said:

- “Okay, good.” Finding exaggerations in the account, he spoke calmly:
“Take off fifty dollars; you’re paying too much for the cab driver, knock it off.”
And the agent “threw off”, knowing that, firstly, Evstratiy Pavlovich was right, and, secondly, all sorts of disputes were useless anyway.

In addition to its spies, the Moscow branch also had a flying spy squad of the police department, which Mednikov was also in charge of. This detachment traveled around Russia, developing intelligence information from Zubatov or the department, working as if under the latter’s firm. In terms of efficiency, experience and seriousness of the spies, who were mostly drawn from Moscow spies, the flying detachment was an excellent observation apparatus, not inferior in ability to adapt to circumstances, in mobility and secrecy, to professional revolutionaries.

It was the old Mednikov school. There were no better detectives than his, although they drank heavily and to any outsider they seemed undisciplined and unpleasant. They recognized only Mednikov. The Mednikovsky filler could lie in the tank above the bathtub (which was needed once) for the whole evening; he could wait for long hours in the terrible cold for the person being observed in order to then take him home and establish where he lived; he could jump on the train without luggage behind the person being observed and leave suddenly, often without money, thousands of miles away; he ended up abroad without knowing any languages, and knew how to get out.

His agent stood like a cab driver in such a way that the most experienced professional revolutionary could not recognize him as an agent.
He knew how to pretend to be a match dealer and a hawker in general. If necessary, he could pretend to be a fool and talk to the person being observed, allegedly failing himself and his superiors. When the service demanded it, he continued to monitor even the militant with complete selflessness, knowing that if he failed, he risked getting a Browning bullet or a knife on the outskirts of the city, which happened.

The only thing that the Mednikovsky policeman did not have was the consciousness of his own professional dignity. He was an excellent craftsman, but was not convinced that there was nothing shameful in his profession. Mednikov could not instill this in them; he was not enough for this. In this regard, the provincial gendarmerie non-commissioned officers, who wore civilian clothes and performed the duties of spies, stood much higher, understanding their work as a public service. Later, civilian spies, subordinate to gendarmerie officers, were brought up in precisely this new direction, which ennobled their service and greatly helped the cause.

A policeman's pocket album with photographs of members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and descriptions of their features.

In all the disclosures of the department, the role of external surveillance was very large, thanks mainly to which Mednikov became Zubatov’s closest confidant. A woman close to Mednikov had Zubatov’s main safe house, where Mednikov himself lived, where meetings with some of them took place.
employees and other persons in search cases. He knew that they protected other places where meetings between Zubatov and other ranks of the department took place, if they were allowed to participate in this matter.
Not everyone was allowed in, since the agency, this holy of holies of the department, was carefully guarded from any not only outsiders, but also from their own departmental gaze.
Mednikov was also in charge of the cab driver's yard, where there were several trips that were no different in appearance from ordinary "Vaneks". The combination of mounted observation with foot observation brought great benefits in observation.

Mednikov also had a cash register in his hands. Zubatov was unmercenary in the full sense of the word, he was an idealist of his cause; Mednikov is reality itself, life itself. He has all the calculations. Working for ten people and often spending the night in
office on a leather sofa, he at the same time did not miss his private interests. Near Moscow he had “a small estate with bulls, cows and ducks, there was also a house,” he had everything. The working hands were free - do what you want; his own person - his wife, a good, simple woman, ran the household.
Arriving in Moscow, I found Mednikov already a senior official for assignments, with Vladimir in his buttonhole, who at that time gave the rights of hereditary nobility. He had already straightened out all the documents for the nobility, had a charter and was drawing up a coat of arms for himself; The coat of arms featured a bee as a symbol of hard work, and there were also sheaves."

In 1906, Evstratiy Pavlovich Mednikov, with the rank of court councilor with the right of hereditary nobility, retired.
He settled on his estate in the Gorokhovetsky district of the Vladimir province, where he was engaged in agriculture. Until the last years of his life, he maintained correspondence with Sergei Zubatov and his students regarding the police investigation.
In 1910, Mednikov fell ill with a serious mental illness and was treated in a psychiatric hospital until 1913. Some authors connect Mednikov’s mental illness with L.P.’s betrayal. Menshchikova .

Menshchikov Leonid Petrovich, a former member of the Narodnaya Volya circle, confessed under arrest and agreed to become an informant for the secret police, subsequently entered service in the Moscow Security Department as an external surveillance agent (snoop), transferred to the clerk of the office in charge of secret documentation of the Security Department, then appointed senior assistant clerk of the Police Department, transferred to St. Petersburg as a collegiate assessor of the Police Department, dismissed from service by the director of the Police Department Trusevich, in 1909 Menshchikov emigrated to France, got in touch with the leaders of banned Russian political parties (Russian radical liberal oppositions) in the Russian Empire, and gave out all the secret information at his disposal about the Security Department of the Police Department of the Russian Empire, and secret information exposing the foreign agents of the Police Department of the Russian Empire, in the amount of about 2000 people, published articles in Parisian newspapers under the pseudonym "Ivanov" secret information exposing foreign agents Police Department of the Russian Empire, after the October Revolution of 1917 in the Russian Empire, actively collaborated with the Soviet government as an expert in the work of the commission for analyzing the archives of the former foreign agents of the Police Department of the Russian Empire, sold part of the secret documents and his collection of revolutionary illegal literature from his personal large library to the Lenin Institute (Moscow, USSR) for a symbolic sum of 10,000 francs (130-150 US dollars), sold some of the secret documents from his archive in Prague to the Russian Foreign Historical Archive (RFIA).

Memories of Menshchikov from the memoirs of Spiridovich A.I. "Notes of a Gendarme":

"Gloomy, silent, correct, always coldly polite, a respectable blond man with gold glasses and a small beard, Menshchikov was a rare worker. He kept to himself. He often went on business trips, but when at home he “sat for illustration,” i.e. wrote to the police department answers to his papers regarding the clarification of various illustrated letters. He also wrote general reports to the department based on internal intelligence data. This was considered a very secret part, closely adjacent to the agents, and we officers were not allowed near it, leaving it in the hands of officials. The Menshchikovsky Mahogany Bureau inspired us with special respect for it. And when one day, apparently on orders from his superiors, Menshchikov, who treated me very well, while leaving on a business trip, gave me the key to his office and several papers for answers to the department, this created some sensation in the department. They started congratulating me.
Menshchikov knew the revolutionary environment, and his reports on revolutionary figures were comprehensive. He had one big thing to do. They said that in those years the department had acquired the reports and all the data with which a certain foreign representative of one of the revolutionary organizations had to travel around a number of cities and give his groups appropriate instructions. Menshchikov was given the obtained information and, armed with it, he, as a delegate, visited all the necessary points, met with representatives of local groups and carried out a supervisory audit. In other words, he successfully played the revolutionary Khlestakov, and as a result the entire organization was destroyed.
Menshchikov received a good order for this out of turn. Later, taken to St. Petersburg, to the department, serving for many years in the civil service, undoubtedly bringing great benefit to the government, he was dismissed from service by the director of the police department, Trusevich. Then Menshchikov again took the side of the revolution and, while abroad, began to publish the secrets that he knew."

For Mednikov this was a heavy blow. Evstratiy Pavlovich Mednikov died on December 2, 1914 in one of the psychiatric clinics in St. Petersburg.

Mednikov E.P.

Mednikov Evstratiy Pavlovich (1853-1914), a prominent member of the secret police. Since 1881, supernumerary district supervisor of the police reserve of the Moscow police, seconded to the security department as a spy, since 1890 - an official in the office of the Moscow police chief, and in fact the head of the external surveillance service, one of the creators and leader (1894) of the Flying Detachment of Spies of the Moscow Security departments and the Police Department; from 1902 to 1906 he headed the external surveillance service throughout Russia.

Materials used from the book: "Security". Memoirs of leaders of political investigation. Volumes 1 and 2, M., New Literary Review, 2004.

Evstratiy Pavlovich Mednikov. A simple man, one of the peasants, loyal to the throne and the fatherland, capable and cunning, with his own mind, Mednikov (simply Evstrat) adored Zubatov. At the same time, he adored Spiridovich. Apparently, Spiridovich knew how to charm the people he needed. All this is easy to see from several letters Mednikov wrote to Spiridovich in the period 1902-1905 and during the revolution of 1917, discovered during a search in the latter’s apartment *).

These letters begin in May 1902, i.e. from the time when A.I. Spiridovich received the first independent position on political investigation in the South of Russia. These letters breathe genuine love and are full of Mednikov’s concerns for Spiridovich. In them he gives advice, tells official news, warns about the possible appearance in Kyiv of the most dangerous and active terrorists at that time: Gershuni, Melnikov and others.

After the arrest of Gershuni by Spiridovich, E.P. Mednikov sends him directly enthusiastic letters. When a secret officer wounds Spiridovich with a shot from a revolver, Evstrat expresses his feelings so ardently that there is no doubt about the author’s touching love and devotion to his student, and then to the talented head of the search in Kyiv.

When I compare my first steps on the political search in Saratov, the hostile atmosphere for me, the absence of any advice, with that atmosphere of benevolence and prompted instructions, which is now evident from the letters of E.P. Mednikov, I can only envy Spiridovich. I think that with the selection of employees when filling vacancies in the Kiev Security Department, Evstrat did not offend Spiridovich: all of these were employees of the Moscow Security Department.

Notes:

A.P. Martynov. My service in the Separate Corps of Gendarmes. In the book: "Security". Memoirs of leaders of political investigation. Volumes 1 and 2, M., New Literary Review, 2004.

Read here:

III department His Imperial Majesty's Office.

Tsarist gendarmes(employees of the III department and the Police Department)

From Mednikov's papers:

Instructions to the spies of the Flying Squad and the spies of the search and security departments, October 31, 1902 (Mednikov is personally mentioned in the instructions).

Letter from the head of external surveillance of the police department, E.P. Mednikov, to the head of the Tavrichesky security department, A.I. Spiridovich about the results of the development of BO AKP member M.M. Melnikova

Letter from the head of external surveillance of the police department, E.P. Mednikov, to the head of the Kyiv security department, A.I. Spiridovich, on the development of the BO RPS

Letter from the head of external surveillance of the police department, E.P. Mednikov, to the head of the Kyiv security department, A.I. Spiridovich, about the investigation into the murder of V.K. Plehve

Evstratiy (Evstrat) Pavlovich Mednikov (December , Yaroslavl - December 2nd , Saint Petersburg) - a figure in Russian political investigation, ally of S. V. Zubatov, creator of a school of surveillance agents.

Biography

Evstratiy Pavlovich Mednikov died on December 2 1914 in one of the psychiatric clinics St. Petersburg.

Feedback from a colleague

Characteristics of E.P. Mednikov given by his colleague A.I. Spiridovich:

In popular culture

Mednikov is the prototype of Evgrafy Petrovich Medyannikov in the series “Empire Under Attack,” who, together with titular adviser Pavel Nesterovich Putilovsky and lieutenant Ivan Karlovich Berg, was part of a special investigative group to combat the terrorist Combat Organization of the Social Revolutionaries. However, Evgrafy Petrovich, unlike his protagonist, is only an experienced spy, is, apparently, in the rank of non-commissioned officer and continues his career after 1906. Medyannikov was played by actor Valentin Bukin. The image of Mednikov is also used in the novel