KGB

The KGB, an initialism for Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Russian: Комите́т госуда́рственной безопа́сности (КГБ); IPA: [kəmʲɪˈtʲɛt ɡəsʊˈdarstʲvʲɪnnəj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ], translated in English as Committee for State Security), was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. Formed in 1954, as a direct successor of such preceding agencies as the Cheka, NKGB, and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence, and secret police. Similar agencies were instated in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russia and consisted of many ministries, state committees, and state commissions.

The KGB was a military service and was governed by army laws and regulations, similar to the Soviet Army or MVD Internal Troops. While most of the KGB archives remain classified, two online documentary sources are available. Its main functions were foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, operative-investigatory activities, guarding the State Border of the USSR, guarding the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, organization and ensuring of government communications as well as combating nationalism, dissent, and anti-Soviet activities.

Baracuda (rapper)

Graham Troyer (born February 24, 1983), better known by his stage name Baracuda (formerly Baracuda72), is an underground hip hop artist from Guelph, Ontario, currently based in Toronto. Baracuda was an original member of the Plague Language collective founded by Noah23 and Orphan. Beginning in 2001 he collaborated with Noah23 under the name Bourgeois Cyborgs. They released one self-titled album in 2008. The duo broke up in 2012 and Baracuda is no longer affiliated with Plague Language.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Mixtapes

State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus

The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяспекі, КДБ; translit. Kamitet Dziaržaǔnaj Biaspieki, KDB, Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности, КГБ; translit. Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, KGB) is the national intelligence agency of Belarus. Along with its counterparts in Transnistria and South Ossetia, it is one of the few intelligence agencies that kept the Russian name "KGB" after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, albeit it is lost in translation when written in Belarusian (becoming KDB rather than KGB). (The "Special Riot Police," however, are still called OMON.)

It is the Belarusian successor organization to the KGB of the Soviet Union. Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, who founded the Cheka – the original Bolshevik intelligence police – was born in what is now Belarus and remains a national hero.

It is governed by the law About State Security Bodies of the Republic of Belarus.

Volga River

The Volga (Russian: Во́лга; IPA: [ˈvolɡə]) is the longest river in Europe; it is also Europe's largest river in terms of discharge and watershed. It flows through central Russia and into the Caspian Sea, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia.

Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, Moscow, are in the Volga's watershed (drainage basin).

Some of the largest reservoirs in the world can be found along the Volga. The river has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture and is often referred to as Волга-матушка Volga-Matushka (Mother Volga) in Russian literature and folklore.

Nomenclature

The Russian hydronym Volga (Волга) derives from Proto-Slavic *vòlga "wetness, moisture", which is preserved in many Slavic languages, including Ukrainian volóha (воло́га) "moisture", Russian vlaga (влага) "moisture", Bulgarian vlaga (влага) "moisture", Czech vláha "dampness", Serbo-Croatian vlȁga "moisture", and Slovene vlaga "moisture" among others.

The Slavic name is a loan translation of earlier Scythian Rā (Ῥᾶ) "Volga", literally "wetness", cognate with Avestan Raŋhā "mythical stream" (also compare the derivation Sogdian r’k "vein, blood vessel" (*raha-ka),Persian رگ rag "vein") and Sanskrit rasā́- "liquid, juice; mythical river". The Scythian name survives in modern Mordvin Rav (Рав) "Volga".

GAZ Volga

Volga (Russian: Волга) is an automobile brand that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the venerated GAZ Pobeda in 1956. Modern in design, the car survived several generations. Although Volga cars were readily used as taxi cabs, road police interceptors and ambulances (based on the estate versions), it was their role in serving the Soviet nomenklatura, that made them a contemporary cultural icon. Several generations of the car were produced.

The original GAZ-M-21 was produced between from 1956 and underwent two facelifts (1958, 1962) and a technical modernisation in 1965 before retiring in 1970. The car marked the blossoming era of Nikita Khruschev's thaw, and despite its very limited private sales, was very sought by the Soviet public, becoming a symbol of style and success.

The GAZ-24 followed, and was produced from 1968, underwent one facelift in 1976. The GAZ-24 was to be replaced by the GAZ-3101, but the latter car never reached prototype stage. Unlike the -21, the -24's long production saw the country decay during the stagnation period. It's image portrayed the social inequality between the Soviet ruling class (nomenklatura), whose privilege not only included a chauffeured Volga, but an even more rare opportunity to privately own one. Also it became a major object of speculation on the lucrative Soviet grey economy, officially untolerated, but privately welcomed by the state.

Volga (disambiguation)

The Volga River is a river of Russia.

Volga may also refer to:

Places

In business

In sports and games

In other uses