Yevgeny-Ludvig Karlovich Miller (Russian: Евгений-Людвиг Карлович Миллер; 7 October [O.S. 25 September] 1867 – 11 May 1939) was a Russian general of Baltic German descent and one of the leaders of the anti-Communist White Army during the Russian Civil War.
Born~Died Sep 25, 1867 ~ May 11, 1939Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 3:49 PM
Yevgeny-Ludvig Karlovich Miller (Russian: Евгений-Людвиг Карлович Миллер;1 7 October [O.S. 25 September] 1867 – 11 May 1939) was a Russian general of Baltic German descent and one of the leaders of the anti-CommunistWhite Army during the Russian Civil War. After the civil war, he lived in exile in France. Kidnapped by Soviet intelligence operatives in Paris in 1937, he was smuggled to the Soviet Union and executed in Moscow in 1939.
After the February Revolution of 1917, Miller opposed "democratization" of the Russian army and was arrested by his own soldiers after he ordered them to remove red armbands.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Miller fled to and was declared of Northern Russia. In May 1919, appointed him to replace in charge of the in the region. In Arkhangelsk, and , his anti-Bolshevik was supported by the , mostly forces. However, after an unsuccessful advance against the along the in the summer of 1919, British forces withdrew from the region, and Miller's men faced the enemy alone.
This page is based on “Yevgeny Miller” from English Wikipedia, (r1375167632) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.
Between 1930 and 1937, Miller served as chairman of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), an organization of exiled former White Army officers and soldiers opposed to the Soviet Union. His niece Nathalie Sergueiew also fled to France and subsequently became an MI5 agent.3 As the ROVS chairman, Miller was not an influential figure, as he did not belong to the dominant clan in the ROVS, namely former members of the White Army of South Russia, nor the former "Gallipoli campers".4 During the Spanish Civil War, Miller expressed support for the Nationalists. The ROVS attempted to create its own Russian unit to join the Nationalists, which would be composed of at least 2,000 soldiers. However, the effect proved insignificant: only several dozen Russians agreed to join the Nationalists.5
Illegal rendition
On 22 September 1937, a former Tsarist officer, All-Military Union counter-intelligence chief, and NKVDmole, Nikolai Skoblin led Miller to a Paris safe house, ostensibly to meet with two German Abwehr agents, who were in fact officers of the Soviet NKVD disguised as German military intelligence operatives. They drugged Miller, locked him inside a steamer trunk, and smuggled him aboard a Soviet ship in Le Havre.67
Miller, however, had left behind a note to be opened in case he failed to return from the meeting. In it, he detailed his mounting suspicions about Skoblin. French police launched a massive manhunt, but Skoblin fled to the Soviet embassy in Paris and eventually was smuggled to Barcelona, where the Second Spanish Republic refused to extradite him to the Third French Republic.8 However, the French police arrested Skoblin's wife, Nadezhda Plevitskaya. A French court convicted her of kidnapping and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. Plevitskaya died in prison in 1940.89
The NKVD successfully smuggled Miller back to Moscow, where he was tortured and summarily shot nineteen months later on 11 May 1939, at the age of 71. NKVD agent Pavel Sudoplatov later claimed that "[Miller's] kidnapping was a cause célèbre. Eliminating him disrupted his organization of Tsarist officers and effectively prevented them from collaborating with the Germans against us."10 Sudoplatov also claimed that Western accounts of NKVD agent Leonid Eitingon having played a role in the abduction of Miller were false.11
Yevgeny-Ludvig Karlovich Miller (Russian: Евгений-Людвиг Карлович Миллер;1 7 October [O.S. 25 September] 1867 – 11 May 1939) was a Russian general of Baltic German descent and one of the leaders of the anti-CommunistWhite Army during the Russian Civil War. After the civil war, he lived in exile in France. Kidnapped by Soviet intelligence operatives in Paris in 1937, he was smuggled to the Soviet Union and executed in Moscow in 1939.
After the of 1917, Miller opposed "democratization" of the Russian army and was arrested by his own soldiers after he ordered them to remove red armbands.
Between 1930 and 1937, Miller served as chairman of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), an organization of exiled former White Army officers and soldiers opposed to the Soviet Union. His niece Nathalie Sergueiew also fled to France and subsequently became an MI5 agent.3 As the ROVS chairman, Miller was not an influential figure, as he did not belong to the dominant clan in the ROVS, namely former members of the White Army of South Russia, nor the former "Gallipoli campers".4 During the Spanish Civil War, Miller expressed support for the Nationalists. The ROVS attempted to create its own Russian unit to join the Nationalists, which would be composed of at least 2,000 soldiers. However, the effect proved insignificant: only several dozen Russians agreed to join the Nationalists.5
Illegal rendition
On 22 September 1937, a former Tsarist officer, All-Military Union counter-intelligence chief, and NKVDmole, Nikolai Skoblin led Miller to a Paris safe house, ostensibly to meet with two German Abwehr agents, who were in fact officers of the Soviet NKVD disguised as German military intelligence operatives. They drugged Miller, locked him inside a steamer trunk, and smuggled him aboard a Soviet ship in Le Havre.67
Miller, however, had left behind a note to be opened in case he failed to return from the meeting. In it, he detailed his mounting suspicions about Skoblin. French police launched a massive manhunt, but Skoblin fled to the Soviet embassy in Paris and eventually was smuggled to Barcelona, where the Second Spanish Republic refused to extradite him to the Third French Republic.8 However, the French police arrested Skoblin's wife, Nadezhda Plevitskaya. A French court convicted her of kidnapping and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. Plevitskaya died in prison in 1940.89
The NKVD successfully smuggled Miller back to Moscow, where he was tortured and summarily shot nineteen months later on 11 May 1939, at the age of 71. NKVD agent Pavel Sudoplatov later claimed that "[Miller's] kidnapping was a cause célèbre. Eliminating him disrupted his organization of Tsarist officers and effectively prevented them from collaborating with the Germans against us."10 Sudoplatov also claimed that Western accounts of NKVD agent Leonid Eitingon having played a role in the abduction of Miller were false.11