New KGB Chief Starts Purge of Secret Police;`Vicious State Within State' Denounced From: The Washington Post | Date: August 31, 1991| Author: David Remnick | Copyright (null) The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

The KGB's new director, Vadim Bakatin, has begun a massive purge of the Soviet secret police. His first victim was his son.

"I don't want him working under his father," Bakatin said gruffly, without mentioning what his son did for the KGB. "This way it will be easier for him."

At the KGB, Bakatin has set himself a moral and administrative task of nearly incomprehensible scope. As he told reporters today, he is faced with a "vicious state within a state," a system of deception ...