Third Section

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The Third Section was the secret police department of Imperial Russia, notorious for its surveillance, censorship, and suppression of political dissent in the 19th century.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Third Section canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf government agency
secret police
alsoKnownAs Third Section of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery
controlled political correspondence interception
country Russian Empire
dissolved 1880
engagedIn censorship of private letters
collection of political intelligence
surveillance of revolutionary émigrés
establishedBy Nicholas I of Russia
headquartersLocation Saint Petersburg
linked to: St. Petersburg
historicalPeriod 19th century
ideology support of autocracy and Orthodoxy
inception 1826
jurisdiction Imperial Russia
linked to: Russian Empire
legalBasis ukases of Nicholas I
mainFunction censorship
control of public opinion
monitoring revolutionary movements
oversight of foreigners in Russia
political surveillance
supervision of the press
suppression of political dissent
surveillance of religious and ethnic minorities
monitored Decembrist movement remnants
Polish national movement
socialist and nihilist circles
nativeName Третье отделение Собственной Его Императорского Величества канцелярии
notableHead Count Alexander von Benckendorff
Prince Vasily Dolgorukov
Pyotr Shuvalov
notoriousFor exile of dissidents to Siberia
extensive network of informers
political repression
surveillance of intellectuals and students
operatedDuringReignOf Alexander II of Russia
Alexander III of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
opposed liberal reforms
revolutionary organizations
oversaw political trials
parentOrganization His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery
linked to: Royal Chancellery
partOf autocratic control system of the Russian Empire
reasonForAbolition administrative reform of police and security services in 1880
replacedBy Department of State Police
Okhrana
significance precursor to modern Russian secret police organizations
supervised gendarmerie

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Petrashevsky Circle persecutedBy Third Section