Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 17, 2026

Piotr Soprunenko

Piotr Karpovich Soprunenko (17 March 1908 – 23 June 1992) was a Soviet Major-General in the Red Army who carried out the Katyn Massacre in World War II. Soprunenko had 22,000 prisoners of war under his jurisdiction as head of a branch of the Soviet NKVD called the "Department for POW Affairs" that was created by Lavrenty Beria. He was of Ukrainian ancestry.

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Piotr Soprunenko
Born(1908-03-17)17 March 1908
Kyiv, Russian Empire
Died23 June 1992(1992-06-23) (aged 84)
Moscow, Russia
Branch
Red Army
Rank
Major-General
Known forPerpetrator of Katyn Massacre
A mass grave at Katyn, 1943 source ↗

Piotr Karpovich Soprunenko (Петро Карпович Сопруненко)(17 March 1908 – 23 June 1992) was a Soviet Major-General in the Red Army who carried out the Katyn Massacre in World War II. Soprunenko had 22,000 prisoners of war under his jurisdiction as head of a branch of the Soviet NKVD called the "Department for POW Affairs" that was created by Lavrenty Beria.12: 58  He was of Ukrainian ancestry.

Biography

Sporunenko was born near Kyiv in Ukraine, under the Russian Empire.1

Soprunenko achieved the rank of captain of State Security in March 1940, major in 1942, colonel and then commissar in 1943, and Major General in 1945.3

War crimes

Soprunenko was reportedly responsible for the executions of nearly 22,000 Polish intelligentsia, military officers, and other prisoners of war during the Katyn Massacre in April and May 1940.4 This is considered by many to be a genocide.5

In 1990, Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell raised a question with the UK Government regarding Soprunenko's role in Katyn with a view to his possible prosecution as a war criminal.6

In 1991, the Soviet Union declined to prosecute Soprunenko due to infirmity and old age, and he never faced justice.2: 325 

References

References

  1. Oliver, James (2015-06-11). "Understanding the Ukrainians in WWII. Part 2. Stories of Ukrainians in the Red Army". Euromaidan Press. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  2. Parrish, Michael (1996-05-16). The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939-1953. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-0-313-02220-3 – via Internet Archive.
  3. Петров, Никита Васильевич; Скоркин, Константин Владиславович (1999). Кто руководил НКВД, 1934-1941: справочник (in Russian). Звенья. ISBN 978-5-7870-0032-0. Archived from the original on 10 September 2002 – via Memo.ru.
  4. "WORLD IN BRIEF : POLAND : Katyn Executioner Believed to Be Alive". Los Angeles Times. 1990-08-01. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  5. "The Katyn Massacre – Mechanisms of Genocide". The Warsaw Institute Review. 2020-05-18. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  6. "Katyn Massacre: General Soprunenko's Role". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 521. House of Lords. 17 July 1990. col. 753–754.