'Iron Felix' rises again over Russia's spy service in Moscow

Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin delivers a speech during a ceremony unveiling the monument to founder of the Soviet secret police Felix Dzerzhinsky at the service's headquarters in Moscow, Russia, September 11, 2023. Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A bronze statue of "Iron Felix" Dzerzhinsky, the ruthless founder of the Soviet secret police and architect of the Red Terror which followed the 1917 revolution, was unveiled on Monday at the headquarters of Russia's foreign spy service.

Dzerzhinsky, a Polish noble-turned-revolutionary who helped lay the foundations of the repressive system over which Josef Stalin was to preside, is reviled by dissidents but is a hero to the spies who rule in Vladimir Putin's Russia.