Nikolai Krasovsky

Mykola Krasovsky (, , 31 March 1871 - after 1934) was a police officer from Kyiv (then part of the Russian Empire), who played an important role as investigator during the Beilis affair, a criminal process spurred by antisemitic attitudes prevalent during that era. After the fall of Tsarism Krasovsky entered the service of the newly proclaimed Ukrainian People's Republic, becoming the chief of Ukrainian counterintelligence. For his investigatory activities Krasovsky was compared by his contemporaries to Lecoq.

Biography Early life Mykola Oleksandrovych Krasovsky was born in Kyiv into a family of an Orthodox priest. After graduating from a theological seminary, he refused to follow the steps of his father and entered police service. His police career started in 1893, when he was appointed an aide to the chief of local police in Nizhyn. In 1896 Krasovskyi started working as an inspector of Chernihiv police. Later he served as a prison director in Mglin.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 Krasovsky supervised the mobilization in Krolevets, receiving a letter of gratitude from the governor. During the Revolution of 1905 Krasovsky was appointed head of police in the area of Kozelets, fighting against criminal gangs which were active in the vicinity. After an attack on his office by the leader of a criminal group, as well as a conflict with one of the local officials, in 1907 Krasovskyi had to resign from his post. Krasovskyi was transferred to Skvyra, but already a few months later was recalled to Kyiv to investigate the murder of a 13-year old boy, which was blamed by the prosecution on a local Jew called Menahem Mendel Beilis.

Later years and death Further fate of Krasovsky after his resignation from service is unclear. According to some information, he emigrated to Egypt, settling in Cairo where a colony of emigrants from the former Russian Empire existed at that time, and died in October 1938. Other sources claim that he continued to co-operate with the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile, and in 1934 attempted to cross the Soviet border, but was arrested by the GPU. Krasovskyi's surname is present among the names of suspected spies captured by Soviet security services in the area of Yampil, most of whom were later executed.

Legacy During his exile in the 1920s Krasovskyi planned to publish his memoirs dedicated to the Beilis Affair, which he considered to be a provocation by the Tsarist government. However, no manuscripts of the work were ever found in the archives.

After Ukraine attained independence, Krasovskyi's life was memorialized in a number of articles, in the media and in expositions dedicated to the history of Ukraine's security services. In 2022 a memorial plaque was installed on the wall of a house in Kyiv where he lived in the early 1900s.