Heirs of Terror: The War with Ukraine as a Means for the Kremlin to Revive the Spirit of the Chekists
Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, I stumbled upon a publication by a fanatical admirer of Lenin and the USSR. His words, filled with sorrow, disappointment, and bitterness, evoked conflicting emotions: he lamented that the new generation of Chekists had lost the bloodthirstiness of their predecessors.
He grieved over the fact that the kind of people who built the communist concentration camp of the “USSR” on the ruins of the Russian Empire, whom he considered "heroes" with blood up to their elbows, were gone. He genuinely mourned the times when total terror and unbridled cruelty ensured the Kremlin's "successes."
Even more, he lamented that when the sons and grandsons replaced the grandfathers, the repressions in the “USSR” concentration camp lost their former intensity. Less blood was shed, barracks were replaced with Khrushchyovkas, and, as this fanatic claimed, the USSR ultimately collapsed as a result.
These thoughts are not unique to those involved in the “Red Terror.” They reflect a shared desire among Chekists to resurrect a system of violence that had served as the cement holding together the multiethnic “Russian people” in the pen of the Empire for centuries.
The war that erupted in 2022 became an instrument for reviving a bloody empire. This war is not just aggression against Ukraine; it is, to a large extent, an attempt to breathe new life into a dying Chekist ethos and restore the "Third Rome" on the world stage.
About the Stakhanovite Executioners of the NKVD
The history of Chekism is a history of systematic violence elevated to the level of a cult. The work of NKVD executioners, which would naturally evoke revulsion in any normal person, was seen in the USSR as something heroic. A testament to this can be found in historian Teplakov’s documented research in his book The Activities of the VChK-GPU-OGPU-NKVD (1917–1941).
For instance, the performance review of N.C. Turbovsky, head of the prison department of the NKVD in the Dnepropetrovsk region, proudly stated that he "personally carried out over 2,100 executions." He was deemed to be fully suited for his position.
Another example is the testimony of F.G. Ignatenko, head of the internal prison of the NKVD in the Zhytomyr region of Soviet Ukraine:
"When the mass operations began, I was constantly involved in carrying out executions. I can't provide exact numbers, but I personally shot thousands of people. This began to affect my health... Walking down the street, I would suddenly start running — it felt like the people I had executed were chasing me. I would arrive at work, kill a bird or a cat to clear my mind, and then continue working. During mass operations, I slept here without undressing for about a year and a half."
A true "Stakhanovite" among NKVD executioners was Vasily Blokhin, who personally executed around 25,000 people. Individuals like him became symbols of a system where mass murder was considered a labor achievement.
The Cocaine Era
But the era of the “Stakhanovite” Chekists is long gone. With the processes of de-Stalinization, the USSR fell apart. Yet, the system’s heirs did not disappear. They merely swapped the executioner’s uniform for an English suit and replaced their methods of achieving goals with more sophisticated ones: propaganda, corruption, and manipulation of public opinion. Khrushchyovkas were replaced by oppressive high-rise complexes, the GULAG gave way to decorative stability, and the blood in the veins of the grandchildren was replaced by cocaine. This shift to a more "glamorous" dictatorship was perceived by the old guard — supporters of the old order — as weakness and degradation.
This is why the war with Ukraine is not merely a geopolitical conflict. It is an attempt to plunge the grandchildren into the same blood and to return the “Russia” concentration camp to the same terror that allowed the multinational empire to be kept under control. The Kremlin can no longer unite the people through ideology or economy, leaving violence as the universal tool tested over centuries.
War for the Revival of the Era of Terror
Violence has always been the cornerstone of the Russian imperial model. Forced Russification, the destruction of national identities, and the suppression of dissent have all been fundamental to the "friendship of peoples."
The war with Ukraine is not only a war for territories and resources; it is a war for the preservation of the cannibalistic legacy of the old order. It is an attempt to return Russia to its Chekist roots, to the "heroism" of Stalin’s era, where murders were considered labor feats.
Ukraine, as a free and democratic country, has become a symbol of defiance to this system. Victory over Ukraine, in the Kremlin’s eyes, is not just a victory on the battlefield; it is the revival of a cannibalistic system where executioners once again occupy a central place.
The war unleashed by the Kremlin has become a war to restore Russia as an "Empire of Violence." The system’s heirs, who traded blood for cocaine, have returned to the belief that only mass fear and repression can sustain their ability to exploit the slave labor of Moscow's colonies and the resources of occupied territories. But the world has changed. If total terror could sustain the system a hundred years ago, it can no longer do so today.
The system can no longer maintain the necessary number of slaves in its concentration camp. Temporarily plugging this gap with migrants, the Kremlin cannot solve the problem of "cannon fodder." And there are no volunteers left in Russia willing to fill this role.