Glavnoje Politicheskoe Upravlenije

Glavnoje Politicheskoe Upravlenije, abbreviated GPU, Main Political Directorate. It is the name of the political police in the USSR in one of the stages of its development.

The GPU was formed from the Cheka in 1922. Already in 1923, it was transformed into the OGPU with the formation of the USSR. It later evolved into the NKVD and KGB.

The organization and responsibility of the GPU was similar to Nazi Germany's Gestapo.