1953
20 January
Dr. Lidiia Tymashuk, who wrote a memorandum in 1948 about the “incorrect treatment” of Andrei Zhdanov, is awarded the Lenin Prize.
5 March
Joseph Stalin dies.
28 March
As a result of an amnesty announced for inmates imprisoned for up to five years, 1.2 million prisoners are released, and 400,000 investigation cases are closed. However, this amnesty affects mainly criminals.
April
In Moscow the people who were imprisoned in connection with the “Doctors' Plot” and the case of the “Mingrelian nationalist organization” are released.
26 May
The Presidium of the CC CPSU approves a resolution entitled “The Question of the Western Oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR.” This resolution is based on a memorandum written by Beria, who prepared a similar memorandum on 8 May 1953 on the activity of the MGB organs in the Lithuanian SSR. On 28 May 1953 the Politburo of the CC CPU approves a resolution entitled “About the CC CPSU's Resolution of 26 May 1953 'The Question of the Western Oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR' and Comrade L. P. Beria's Memorandum to the Presidium of the CC CPSU.” On 4 June 1953 the Plenum of the CC CPU approves the resolution “About the CC CPSU's Resolution of 26 May 1953 'The Question of the Western Oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR' and Comrade L. P. Beria's Memorandum to the Presidium of the CC CPSU'.” The Soviet government thus acknowledged the serious scope and consequences of its brutal actions in the western Ukrainian lands. These resolutions emphasized that “the struggle against the nationalist underground cannot be conducted only by means of mass repressions and Chekist-military operations, that the absurd use of repressions causes only dissatisfaction within the population…”
26 June
Beria is arrested during a meeting of the Presidium of the CC CPSU.
2-7 July
The Plenum of the CC CPSU discusses the speech of the Presidium of the CC CPSU (presented by Georgii Malen-kov) on the criminal acts of Lavrentii Beria. A decision is pa-ssed to expel him from the CC CPSU and from the party itself.
September
The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR passes a resolution granting the Supreme Court the right to review decisions, at the instigation of the General Prosecutor's Office, of former collegiums of the OGPU, NKVD troikas, and the Special Board of the NKVD-MGB-MVD USSR. The military tribunals of Interior troops and the Special Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are abolished, as well as the 1 December 1934 resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR “About the Order of Conducting Cases Concerning the Preparation or Implementation of Terrorist Acts.”
18-23 December
A special meeting in Moscow of the Supreme Court of the USSR is convened to examine the case of the former heads of state security Lavrentii Beria, Vladimir Dekanozov, Vsevolod Merkulov, L. Vlodzimirsky, P. Meshyk, S. Goglidze, and Bogdan Kobulov, all of whom receive the death sentence.
1954
23 May
“Colonel Koval,” i.e., Vasyl Kuk, the last member of the Central OUN Leadership in Ukraine, is captured in a bunker in Ivantsevytsky Forest, Olesko county, in the Lviv region. With his arrest the OUN underground ceases to exist, with the exception of independent, armed illegals.
May-June
Prisoners' strikes in Kingir (Kazakhstan). One of the causes of the strike was the exclusion of political prisoners from the amnesty announced in 1953.
14 September
Forty thousand people take part in military maneuvers at the Totsk test site, where atomic weapons are used. The atomic blast had the power of 40 kilotons 
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The tyrant's funeral turned into both tragedy (people were killed in the Moscow crowds) and political theater: analysts commented on the identity and manner of those bearing the coffin and noted which leaders had played a central or secondary role.
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Realizing that he must wage a hard and dangerous struggle for power, already in 1953 Khrushchev and all those from Stalin's closest circle who have joined forces with him adopt the following technique: all the crimes of the Stalinist period are attributed to “Beria's band.” Later Khrushchev admits in his memoirs: “We created a version, to put it bluntly, we made things up about Beria's role, that Beria was the main personage associated with the excesses carried out by Stalin. Actually, we were in thrall to this version that we had created in the interests of rehabilitating Stalin.”
This attempt to separate Lavrentii Beria (proclaimed an “agent of international imperialism” in the Stalinist absolutist style) from Stalin and Stalinism proved successful. It helped to consolidate the position of Khrushchev, who is elected First Secretary of the CC CPSU in September 1953.
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