In the 1980s, Michail Gorbachev said that Beria and Vsevolod Merkulov were responsible. He said that the Katyn massacre was one of Stalin's atrocities. Beria was accused of treason. He was executed in 1953. He had worked with the British in the 1920s. Merkulov was also executed in 1953 for being close to Beria. Beria and Merkulov were never tried for what they did at Katyn.