Born in Korta, a village near
Kutaisi,
Serghei (Sergo) Arsenievici (Arsentievici) Goglidze joined the
Cheka in 1921. He served with
GPU-
OGPU-NKVD border troops, rising through the ranks. In 1934 he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the
Transcaucasian SFSR, and, from 1937, of the
Georgian SSR. Goglidze was a close associate and friend of
Lavrentiy Beria, who promoted him to high-level positions. In 1941, he was appointed Plenipotentiary of the People's Commissar's Council in
Moldavia (
Romanian territory, occupied by the
Soviet Union following the
ultimatum of June 26, 1940, itself a direct consequence of the
Ribbentrop-Molotov pact), and was put in charge of a major
deportation. In July 1941, after the start of the war, he was moved to
Khabarovsk, working as a chief of the Soviet security apparatus in the Far East. In 1951, he was moved to the headquarters of the
MGB in Moscow, serving as a Deputy Minister of State Security. Goglidze was in charge of the investigation of the
Doctors' Plot. In 1953, after the death of Stalin and downfall of Beria, he was arrested and shot (in
Moscow, on 23 December 1953) together with a group of other NKVD officers close to Beria. == Notes and links ==