96. Sedov et al.,” Spravka,” 491; Deviatov et al., “Gibel’ Kirova,” 58; Koenker et al., Revelations, 73–4 (Poskryobyshev’s written recollections, 1961). Poskryobyshev recalled Stalin not being in; this could be faulty memory, or a reflection of the fact that Poskryobyshev’s office was in the Kremlin’s Imperial Senate, while that day Stalin was at Old Square.
97. Chuev, Tak govoril Kaganovich, 71–2.
98. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 259 (citing RGANI, f. 6, op. 13, d. 62, l. 62–76: Fomin, 1956).
99. Molotov has Stalin saying “shliapy,” but he could have used saltier language. Chuev, Molotov, 376.
100. Pravda, Dec. 2 and 4, 1934; Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 488 (APRF, f. 3, op. 62, d. 95, l. 14–15ob.).
101. Na prieme, 142. This was Suslov’s first recorded visit to Stalin’s office.
102. Pravda, Dec. 4, 1934. A draft terrorist law had been prepared after an earlier assassination (Voikov, the Soviet envoy in Warsaw, in 1927). Now, this one would be approved by telephone poll of politburo members by Dec. 3, but dated the day of the assassination. Pravda, Dec. 4, 1934; RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 17, l. 87; Getty and Naumov, Road to Terror, 795n55, 796n60; Khaustov et al., Lubiankia: Stalin i VChK, 137–8 (APRF, f. 3, op. 58, d. 3, l. 113–113ob.); Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 252 (APRF, f. 3, op. 62, d. 95, l. 1); Khlevniuk, Khoziain, 233. Both the decree and the order for the special train were issued after the assassination. Rayfield, Stalin and His Hangmen, 240–5. The Dec. 1 decree scuttled the work of the commission and its draft politburo resolution on “rooting out illegal methods of investigation.” Khlevniuk, Politbiuro, 132–3.
103. Local newspapers for the next morning, as well as some late-night extra editions, carried the announcement. Leningradskaia pravda, Dec. 2, 1934; Kirilina, Rikoshet, 30–1; Rimmel, “Kirov Murder and Soviet Society,” 21, 27–8; Boris I. Nicolaevsky Collection, Hoover Institution Archives, series 212, box 249, file 3 (V. I. Rudolf-Iurasov memoir). Ehrenburg’s name along with that of Pasternak and other writers was affixed to a note that appeared in Izvestiya (Dec. 2). Liudi, gody, zhizn’, in Ehrenburg, Sobranie sochinenii, IX: 53.
104. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 173–5 (TsA FSB, a.u.d. N-Sh44, t. 24, l. 1–2), 177–8 (l. 3–4). The consulate was actually at 43; the phone number was correct. Ves’ Leningrad na 1933 g. (Leningrad: Lenoblispolkom i Lensovet, 1934), 19.
105. Taubman, Khrushchev, 69, 71 (quoting Gostinskaya); Khrushchev, Vospominaniia, I: 39, 92.
106. Kirilina, Neizvestnyi Kirov, 232 (A. Tammi).
107. Agranov took possession of the case materials at 11:00 a.m., and put the local army garrison, local NKVD troops, and regular police, as well as Fomin, at Pauker’s disposal. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 263 (RGANI, f. 6, op. 13, d. 62, l. 62–76). Stalin, according to Fomin, demanded all operational documents concerning anti-Soviet groups and individuals, and, after looking over the list said, “Your recording-keeping is poor.” Petukhov and Khomchik, “Delo o ‘Leningradskom tsentre,’” 19 (Fomin recollections).
108. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 152–3 (RGANI, f. 6, op. 13, d. 71, l. 14: Borisov’s Dec. 1 interrogation), 159 (l. 15–7: Molochnikov, Dec. 9), 263 (d. 92, l. 169–72: Zavilovich, Dec. 4).
109. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 414–27 (TsA FSB, a.u.d., N-Sh44, t. 24, l. 253–4: Maly, 255–6: Vinogradov, 259–62: Kuzin, twice; 242–44: expert commission report, 291–2: Chopovsky; RGANI, f. 6, op. 13, d. 1, l. 10–53: Khvuiizov; d. 2, l. 78–107: Aug. 1956 commission report; RGASPI, f. 671, op. 1, d. 271, l. 539–40), 686 (Lyushkov, 1939); Sedov et al., “Spravka,” 494–8; “O kul’te lichnosti,” 138; Kirilina, Neizvestny Kirov, 343–54.
110. The bodyguard responsible for the entire third floor, Nikolai Dureiko, had been even farther behind Kirov than Borisov on Dec. 1, and he was not killed in a vehicle accident. In fact, no other operative was killed.
111. Fomin and others, seeking a foreign link, had again interrogated Nikolayev in the wee hours on Dec. 2. After Stalin’s arrival, the Leningrad NKVD interrogated Nikolayev again, on Dec. 3. Lenoe, Kirov Murder, 260–1 (TsA FSB, a.u.d. N-Sh44, t. 12, l. 12–4), 157, 249–50 (TsA FSB, a.u.d. N-Sh44, t. 12, l. 15–6: Nikolaev interrogation, Dec. 3).
