Politburo decision. Responding to a jointly signed request from the KGB and Procurator-General RUDENKO (11 October 1972, 2594-А,  pp. 4-5) the Party leaders approve a secret decree (p. 2) about special KGB “cautions” or warnings to those engaged in “politically harmful” behaviour. [Russian: 16 November 1972, Pb 67-XVIII], total 5 pp.

Often referred to as “the 25 December 1972 decree”, the date when the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet approved (but did not publish) the decree.

=============================

[page one of five]

Workers of all Lands, Unite!

COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION. CENTRAL COMMITTEE

[Text along left-hand margin]
Return within 7 days to CPSU Central Committee
(General Department, sector 1)

TOP SECRET

No. Pb 67 / XVIII

To Comrades:
Brezhnev, Podgorny, Kosygin, Suslov,
Andropov, Rudenko, Savinkin, Georgadze, Smirtyukov

Excerpt from Minute No. 67 of the CPSU Politburo meeting,
held on 16 November 1972

On the use of the caution by the State Security bodies as a measure
of prophylactic influence

Approve the draft decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet (attached).

SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

[stamped]
Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet
No 3707-VIII, dated 25 December 1972

—————————————————————-

[page two]

To item XVIII of Minute No 67

Draft
Not to be published
in the press

DECREE
OF THE PRESIDIUM OF THE USSR SUPREME SOVIET

On the use of the caution by the State Security bodies as a measure
of prophylactic influence

The Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet decrees:

that if a person who has committed anti-social actions that contradict the interests of USSR State security but do not carry a criminal penalty, that person may be given an official caution, with subsequent notification from the procurator, that such types of action are unacceptable.

To issue this warning the person is to be summoned by the State Security agency and if he does not appear may be forcibly escorted there.

If the person who has been issued with the caution commits a crime that harms the interests of State security, a minute noting that he has received a caution is added to the criminal case file.

Chairman of the Presidium
of the USSR Supreme Soviet N. Podgorny

Secretary of the Presidium
of the USSR Supreme Soviet M. Georgadze

Moscow, Kremlin

——————————————————————-

[page three, 9 November 1972]

Top Secret

To CPSU Central Committee

Request by the Committee for State Security at the USSR Council of Ministers
and the USSR Procuracy

The Committee for State Security at the USSR Council of Ministers and the USSR Procuracy have submitted a proposal that the State Security bodies may issue official written cautions to individuals who have committed anti-social actions that contradict the interests of USSR State security but do not carry a criminal penalty.

The implementation of the proposed measures would increase the effectiveness of the prophylactic work carried out by the State Security agencies to halt, in good time, undesirable actions by anti-social elements.

We think it would be possible to accept this proposal.

In the attached draft decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet on this matter certain changes have been made, to take existing legislation into account, and these have been agreed with the Committee for State Security (Comrade Andropov), the USSR Procuracy (Comrade Malyarov), the USSR Ministry of Justice (Comrade Terebilov), the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (Comrade Shumilin) and the USSR Supreme Court (Comrade Smirnov).

A draft Central Committee Resolution and Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet are attached.

Head of the CPSU Central Committee
Department of administrative bodies N. Savinkin 9 November 1972

—————————————————————-

[page four, 11 October 1972]

Return to the CPSU Central Committee
(General Department, sector 1

No Pb 1756

Sent to members of the Politburo,
candidate members of the Politburo,
and Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee

Top Secret
Special File

To the CPSU Central Committee

In accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee the agencies of the Committee for State Security have been carrying out extensive prophylactic work: to forestall crime; to suppress attempts at organised subversive activity by nationalist, revisionist and other anti-Soviet elements; and also to localise groups of a politically harmful character that have arisen in a number of places.

Over the past five years 3,096 such groups have been uncovered and 13,602 individuals belonging to such groups have undergone prophylactic treatment: 2,196 participants of 502 groups in 1967; 2,870 participants of 625 groups in 1968; 3,130 participants of 733 groups in 1969; 3,102 participants of 709 groups in 1970; and 2,304 participants of 527 groups in 1971.

Such groups were uncovered in Moscow, Sverdlovsk, Tula, Vladimir, Omsk, Kazan, Tyumen, and in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belorussia, Moldavia, Kazakhstan and other places.

As a result of the measures taken the number of yearly arrests for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda has declined markedly.

The majority who underwent prophylactic treatment have drawn the correct conclusions. They have actively joined in public life and are working conscientiously in those areas of production and services with which they have been entrusted.

Some, however, continue to commit acts that could under certain circumstances become criminal and do substantial harm to the interests of our State.

—————————————————————

[page five]                                                                                                       2.

To strengthen the preventative effect on individuals who are trying to about to follow the path of serious crime, and to ensure the more robust suppression of undesirable manifestations on the part of anti-social elements, we consider it would be sensible to permit the KGB, when necessary, to issue an official written warning on behalf of the authorities with a demand that these individuals cease their politically harmful activities and to provide an explanation of the consequences that could follow their continuation.

In our view this would substantially raise the moral responsibility of those subjected to prophylactic measures and if they then committed criminal acts and were prosecuted this would be of significance for assessing the personality of the criminal by bodies conducting the preliminary investigation and by the courts.

A draft Resolution of the Central Committee and a draft Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet are attached.

We request authorisation.

Yu. Andropov, R. Rudenko

11 October 1972, No. 2594-А

==================================

NOTES

[1] How the new law was applied is described in two issues of the Chronicle of Current Events, CCE 30.13 (31 December 1973) and CCE 32.14 (17 July 1974) carrying items about “An unpublished decree”.

[2] In 1975, Andropov reported to the Politburo on KGB success in the application of prophylactic measures (31 October 1975*, 2743-A) since 1959.

General

• 1. Notes and additions by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ];
• 2. Text added by hand is indicated in italic script;
• 3. when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted in a previously typed document it is indicated by underlined italic script.

Translation and Annotation, John Crowfoot