Pyotr Kryuchkov

Pyotr Petrovich Kryuchkov (Russian: Пётр Петро́вич Крючко́в; 12 November 1889, Perm – 15 March 1938) was a soviet lawyer and the secretary of Maxim Gorky.

He used his position to block attempts by people, such as Victor Serge and Alexander Voronsky, who had known Gorky in the past and were in trouble with the regime from appealing to him for help.

When Isaac Babel was under arrest, he told his interrogators: "Kryuchkov deliberately selected Gorky's visitors so that he did not see anyone apart from the Chekists of Yagoda's circle and charlatans.

"[6] Moreover "whenever Gorky met Stalin or other members of the Politburo, Yagoda would visit Kryuchkov's flat afterward, demanding a full account of what had been said.

"[7]" Arrested late in 1937, Kryuchkov was one of the defendants of the Case of the Anti-Soviet "Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites" of 2–13 March 1938, during which he 'confessed' to murdering Gorky, and his son Maxim, on Yagoda's instructions.