Andrey V. Ganin «I Cannot Achieve Not Only Release, but Even Simple Justice…» The Case of K.I. Zhikhor and the Military Agent Section of the All-Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces. 1918

Abstract

The article reconstructs a little-known episode in the Bolsheviks’ repressive policy towards military specialists serving in the Red Army: the case of personnel of the Military Intelligence Section of the All-Russian General Staff, headed by former Colonel K.I. Zhikhor. In September 1918, all personnel of the Section responsible for foreign military intelligence were arrested on charges of espionage after a cache containing classified documents on the state of the Moscow garrison was discovered inside a piano located in their office. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials, many of which are introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time, the author traces the fates of those involved in the case, from their arrests and months-long imprisonment in Butyrka Prison to their release and subsequent lives. The article analyses the causes, course and consequences of the case, including the investigative actions of the Cheka. Despite the intervention of Soviet government leader V.I. Lenin and the Council of Defence, who demanded that the arrested men either be convicted or released, the case dragged on. The principal defendant, K.I. Zhikhor, whose guilt was never proven, spent the entire Civil War, 1918–1922, in detention and was subsequently arrested several more times on political grounds before being executed in 1938. The article puts forward hypotheses concerning the possible organisers of the cache and concludes that the Zhikhor case is a striking example of how suspicion and the logic of the Red Terror destroyed the lives of specialists loyal to the Soviet government. The events also resulted in the disorganisation of military intelligence, making its subsequent restoration necessary.

Keywords:

Russian Civil War; Red Army; military specialists; Cheka; White underground; repressive practices; K.I. Zhikhor

For citation:

Andrey V. Ganin. «I Cannot Achieve Not Only Release, but Even Simple Justice…»: The Case of K.I. Zhikhor and the Military Agent Section of the All-Russian General Staff of the Armed Forces, 1918. The Historical Reporter. 2026. Vol. 60. P. 324–377. DOI: 10.35549/HR.2026.2026.58.006

Received 19.11.2025. Revised 21.12.2025. Accepted 27.01.2026.

Andrey V. Ganin

D.Sc. (History), Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow, Russian Federation.

e-mail: andrey_ganin@mail.ru

SPIN-code: 1144-9875

AuthorID: 523679

ORCID: 0000-0002-8602-1990

References

1. Volkov S.V. Generaly i shtaboficery russkoj armii: opyt martirologa. Moscow: FIV, 2012. Vol. 1. 736 p. https://www.elibrary.ru/qpwxmv (In Russ.).
2. Volkov S.V. Generals and staff officers of the Russian Army: the Martyrology experience. Moscow: FIV, 2012. Vol. 2. 728 p. https://www.elibrary.ru/qpwxnf (In Russ.).
3. Ganin A.V. In the shadow of the "Spring": Former officers under repression in the early 1930s. 2014;(6):95–101. https://www.elibrary.ru/silrgt (In Russ.).
4. Ganin A.V. "Two months as Chief of the General Staff (September — October 1917)" by General V.V. Marushevsky. Istoricheskij vestnik = Historical bulletin. 2024;(49): 224-325. (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.35549/HR.2024.2024.49.009
5. Ganin A.V. Cadres of the General Staff during the Russian Civil War, 1917-1922. Moscow: Kuchkovo pole Muzeon, 2023. Vol. 1. 1000 p. (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31168/907589-29-2 https://www.elibrary.ru/ebudaf
6. Ganin A.V. Cadres of the General Staff during the Russian Civil War, 1917-1922. Moscow: Kuchkovo pole Muzeon, 2023. Vol. 2. 968 p. (in Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31168/907589-29-2 https://www.elibrary.ru/nvijfz
7. Ganin A.V. A disservice to General Denikin. 2025;(10):110–113. https://www.elibrary.ru/trcmnk (In Russ.).
8. Ganin A.V. The Brain of the Army during the "Russian Troubles": Articles and documents. Moscow: The Russian way, 2013. 880 p. https://www.elibrary.ru/author_items.asp (In Russ.).
9. Ganin A.V. Stanislavskij: peripetii biografii russkogo oficera. In: Velikaya vojna 1914–1918: Al'manah Rossijskoj associacii istorikov Pervoj mirovoj vojny: Rossiya v Pervoj mirovoj vojne. 2025;10:235–248. URL: https://raipmv.ru/upload/file/almanah_10_na_sayt.pdf (In Russ.).
10. Ganin A.V. Reports of white agents in the Red Army. 1919. Questions of history. 2012;(6):3–20. 2012;(6):3–20. URL: https://istmat.org/files/uploads/48428/donesenia.pdf (In Russ.).
11. Kochik V.Ya. Soviet military intelligence: structure and personnel. The first article (1917-1918). Free thought = Svobodnaja mysl'. 1998;(5):94–104. URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083021/http://vif2ne.ru/nvk/forum/arhprint/228557 (In Russ.).