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[[File:Ivan the Terrible and Harsey.jpg|thumbnail|400px250px|left|Figure 1. Ivan helped create among the first secret police organizations in Russia.]]
Espionage in Russia, with its long history of political turmoil, developed to become one of the most effective espionage services by the 20th century when the Soviet Union emerged. The road to that development, however, was long and full of intrigue and sometime bloody conflict. Espionage, within and outside of Russia, also created fear in Russia's adversaries and population alike.
====Early Espionage in Russia====
====Later Russia====
[[File:Stalin's Mug Shot.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Figure 2. Mug shot of Stalin after he had been detained by the Okhrana. Stalin was sentenced to exile to Vologda in 1911 but later escaped in 1912.]]
Foreign intelligence gathering became established professionally by 1810 in Russia through the creation of what eventually became called the Special Bureau. Initially, foreign gathering intelligence was part of the military. This was seen as crucial for Russia to keep enemies such as the Ottoman Empire and European states away. This tradition of developing the main spying services as serving as part of the larger military structure has stayed with Russia to this day, as the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) carried out most of the spying that occurred in the Soviet Union days and after the fall of the Soviet Union.<ref>For more on the Special Bureau and related agencies that eventually helped form the GRU, see: Pringle, Robert W. 2006. <i>Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence</i>. Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence Series 5. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.</ref>