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The lecture by Russian historian and public figure Nikita Petrov will focus on the causes, driving forces and mechanism of the "Great Terror". Did Stalin control the course of repressions, was Yezhov an independent figure, did mass arrests on the periphery get out of the control of the center, were "troikas" and "dvoikas" legitimate bodies for passing sentences? These and other questions important for understanding what happened in 1937-1938 will be addressed in the lecture. Nikita Vasilyevich Petrov specializes in the history of Soviet security agencies. In 2008, he received a PhD in history, defending a dissertation at the University of Amsterdam on the topic "Stalin and the NKVD-MGB in the Sovietization of Central and Eastern European Countries. 1945 - 1953." Author of the reference book “Who served in the Soviet state security agencies in Germany, 1945–1954” and the books “Awarded for execution”, “Ivan Serov – Chairman of the KGB”, “Executioners: They carried out Stalin’s orders”.