“It is not difficult to draw a psychological portrait of a Chekist.

They are a person absolutely loyal to the respective communist regime, with unconditional obedience to what they are told and where they are sent. They will not question what they have to do, nor will they decide for themselves that now these or those people are the bad ones,” said Inese Dreimane.

“Yes, it was an opportunity to perhaps improve one's material situation in some way in the future or to push oneself into a slightly better life within that state-regulated Soviet poverty, but nonetheless, in their actions and thinking, this person must be completely convinced that they are acting correctly in the interests of the relevant regime and that it is the best possible regime,” the researcher emphasised.

At the same time, Dreimane also pointed to tendencies of lust for power. “Many certainly enjoyed the opportunity to vent what had built up in them or to express their attitude in a cruel way, but the basis is hatred—hatred for those people’s actions because they do not love the wonderfully good communist regime,” she explained.