Savinkov

Boris Viktorovich Savinkov (January 31 [O.S. January 19] 1879 – May 7, 1925) was a Russian writer, revolutionary, and terrorist. He was one of the leaders of the Fighting Organisation (Воевая организация) of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR).

Savinkov was involved in the assassinations of several high-ranking officials in Tsarist Russia, including Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve in 1904 and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905. After the February Revolution in 1917, he served as Assistant Minister of War under Alexander Kerensky in the Provisional Government.

Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in the October Revolution, Savinkov became a prominent leader of the anti-Bolshevik White movement. He organized armed resistance against the Bolsheviks and sought support from foreign powers, particularly in France. He was a key figure in several anti-Bolshevik uprisings, including those in Yaroslavl in 1918.

Savinkov eventually returned to Soviet Russia, reportedly as part of a clandestine operation known as "Operation Trust" organized by the OGPU, the Soviet secret police. He was arrested and publicly tried in 1924, where he confessed to his anti-Soviet activities. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to imprisonment.

According to official Soviet accounts, Savinkov committed suicide by jumping from a window in the Lubyanka prison in Moscow in 1925. However, some historians and contemporaries believe that he was murdered by the OGPU.

Savinkov was also a writer. His works include the novel The Pale Horse (Конь бледный), which portrays the psychology of a terrorist, and What Never Happened (То, чего не было), a memoir of his involvement in the anti-Bolshevik movement. He is a controversial figure in Russian history, viewed by some as a freedom fighter and by others as a terrorist.