One of the closest associates of Nikolai Yezhov, took an active part in the repressions against both the commanding staff of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and against economic assets (primarily at the enterprises of communications). From July 11, 1937, the Head of the Eleventh Department of the Main Directorate of State Security of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union, in charge of water and road transport, as well as communications. On April 2, 1938, he was sent to Sakhalin with the rank of government commissar. He began mass arrests among the party and economic activists of the island. On July 11, 1938, he was in a plane crash and was wounded.
