Extraordinary and Increased Security

(Russian, chrezvychainaia i usilennaia okhrana), a set of measures used by the tsarist government in its struggle against the revolutionary and social movement in Russia between 1881 and 1917. The measures were introduced during the revolutionary situation of the late 1870’s and early 1880’s by the Statute on Measures for the Protection of State Order and Public Tranquility of Aug. 14, 1881.

A state of increased security could be introduced by governors-general or by the minister of the interior for a period of one year in localities where public tranquility had been disturbed by “offenses against the existing state order.” The administrative authorities of such localities were given the right to disband assemblies, exile suspicious individuals, transfer criminal cases to military courts, and conduct searches.

In localities where the population had been “brought into a state of alarm,” the Committee of Ministers (from 1906, the Council of Ministers) could proclaim a state of extraordinary security for a period of six months, thereby giving the governors-general the additional right to dismiss elected or appointed officials, suspend the publication of periodicals, close educational institutions, and create special paramilitary squads for the suppression of disorders.

The extraordinary and increased security introduced as a temporary measure in 1881 was maintained until February 1917.