Nikolai Kuzmin

Who was Nikolai Kuzmin?

Nikolai Nikolayevich Kuzmin was a Soviet political and military leader. He was the political Commisar of the Baltic Fleet during the time of the Russian Civil War.

Kuzmin Graduated from St Petersburg University and joined the Bolshevik Movement in 1903. He participated in the 1905 revolution. In 1917 he was a member of the military organisation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. He was also editor of two newspapers Soldatskaya Pravda and Derevenskaya Bednota.

During the Civil War Kuzmin served as a Political Commisar on the South Western Front and the Petrograd area from 1920. In 1920 he was appointed Political commissar of the Baltic Fleet and took part in suppressing the Kronstadt Rebellion. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

In 1924 Kuzmin became chief assistant prosecutor in the Supreme Court of the USSR for military justice. He was critical of the abuse of power by the OOGPU and removed from his post. He was made Chief Political Officer of the Central Asian Military District in 1925 and in 1931-32 he was made Chief Political Officer of the Siberian Military District.