Grigoriy Konstantinovich Ordzhonikidze (Russian:Григорий Константинович Орджоникидзе) or simply Sergo Ordzhonikidze (Серго) (October 12 1886 - February 18 1937) was a member of the Politburo, and close friend to Stalin.

Ordzhonikidze became involved in radical politics in 1903, and after graduating as a doctor from the Mikhailov Hospital Medical School, was arrested for arms transferring.

He was released and went to Germany, but in 1907 returned to Russia and settled in Baku where he worked with Stalin and others. He was arrested for being a member of the Social Democratic Party and deported to Siberia, but managed to escape 3 years later. He returned with Stalin to St. Petersburg in April 1912, but again was apprehended and sentenced to 3 years hard labour.

During the course of the civil war, he became a commissar for the Ukraine and took part in fighting in the Caucasus, where he would later help establish Soviet power in states such as Armenia.

Ordzhonikidze was appointed to the Politburo in 1926, but by 1936 Stalin began to question his loyalty; specifically when he discovered that Ordzhonikidze was using his influence to protect certain figures that were under investigation by the NKVD. Meanwhile, rumours had been spreading that Ordzhonikidze planned to denounce Stalin in his speech at the April 1937 Plenum. Unsurprisingly, Ordzhonikidze was found dead before he could make his speech; his death was ruled a suicide.

With info from Spartacus Schoolnet