Another day, another set of orders. The bureaucratic machine that the Ministry of Internal Security (MVD) and the Ministry of External Security (MGB) had become was well-oiled, and not because the Soviet Union had the spare cash. It was because it was used often, and it needed to be effective when it was. This was known to the heads of the Ministries, Sergei Kruglov of the MVD and his friend and ally Viktor Abakumov of the MGB. The two had risen the ranks of the intelligence community of the Soviet Union simultaneously but they were not the same person. Sergei had studied abroad for over a decade in a number of prestigious academies both leftist and rightist in nature. He became well-acquainted with economic theory, Marxist literature, international affairs, and linguistics. Meanwhile, Viktor served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War at the old age of 14 and then entered the Cheka when he became of age. Sergei was a careful and quiet man who knew his role in the greater Soviet Union while Viktor was a charismatic womanizer who loved to talk. But behind closed doors, those in the know knew that the two shared a similarity in their cold, calculating capability to be masters of spycraft.

These two had risen along the coat tails of Lavrentiy Beria, a man very close to Stalin. However, they were capable spies who knew better than to become hitched to a single man's whims and fortunes as veterans of Stalin's purges and key players in actually carrying out much of Stalin's orders. This would be why when Beria resigned as the Head of the NKVD shortly before it was broken up into the MVD and MGB, Stalin ensured Sergei and Viktor took over. They may have been Beria allies, but they quickly purged nearly all of Beria's men and allies from the Ministries over the past two years to ensure their own positions would be safe. They followed Stalin's orders to the letter to ensure he would provide cover for their actions, and they awaited to make their move. This would come when Khrushchev, a powerful man in Ukraine, returned to Premiership of the Ukrainian SSR.

Khrushchev was a man who had went both in and out of Stalin's graces and an influential figure in the Ukrainian SSR. However the MVD, given control of the old NKVD Divisions after the NKVD's dissolution, had been the primary Ministry to target and destroy the OUN and the UPA. Sergei Kruglov had made quick work to take credit for the success it had in Ukraine, and his ally in Viktor had been key to ensuring this happened. When Khrushchev re-appeared in the past few months, he threatened to undermine the MVD's accomplishments and use them for himself. It was clear to the heads of the Ministries that Khruschev re-appeared as a political move by Stalin to counter the growing influence of others in the upper echelon of the Soviet Union, and if Khrushchev was allowed to fester in Moscow the Ministries knew there was little chance of removing him. It was with this in mind that Sergei and Viktor began spreading rumors and communicating with their allies to target Khrushchev to diminish his popularity with Stalin. This strategy was successful as Stalin grew paranoid of the newcomer after Zhdanov's unfortunate death. Viktor would approach Stalin after a meeting with Malenkov, Molotov, and Meretskov and inform him of the rumors against Khrushchev. He would explain that there were others in the Party who would be more than capable and ten times more loyal to the Soviet Union that would fit this position. This latter part was not discussed in the aforementioned meeting with Malenkov, Molotov, and Meretskov. Viktor claimed that Andrey Andreyev would be the man Stalin is looking for, and included written confirmation from Sergei as well to emphasize the Ministries being united in this idea. Andrey was an established political man with an existing personal connection with Stalin who had simply been waylaid by more politically savvy men, and Viktor and Sergei aimed to support Andrey's return to Stalin's inner circle.

After some time, Stalin seemed to come around to the idea. His paranoia and worsening health helping the process along, the MVD began quick and easy work of fabricating evidence of Khrushchev's purposeful failure to establish effective and Party-friendly collectivization in favor of kulaks and other wealthy patrons in Ukraine, as well as fabricated evidence of military officers giving statements against Khrushchev's actions and capability during the Great Patriotic War. Once presented to Stalin, he quickly agreed with the findings and gave the official ok to proceed with the natural way of things. MVD agents would find themselves bringing Khrushchev to a courtroom on the outskirts of Moscow where a guilty verdict of anti-Soviet treason was given behind closed doors, and he was summarily executed along with a few of his political allies that he had gained as one of Lazar Kaganovich's proteges. Following the break of the news of his guilty verdict key Khrushchev allies, namely his replacement in the Premiership of the Ukrainian SSR Demyan Korotchenko, would also be taken to court and summarily found guilty and executed or sent to Siberia to work in the MVD's gulags. He would be replaced by the old Premier of the Ukrainian SSR, Grechukha Mikhail Sergeevich, who had preceeded Khrushchev and was currently working in the Politburo. These men would be loyal to Stalin and grateful to the Ministries, while Sergei and Viktor would move on to their next target. After all, this is what we do.