question: whether to give this comrade papers instructing him
to oversee the withdrawal of Great Russian troops from Ukraine. Discuss
this and, if you share my opinion that this needs to be done, give
Roshchupkin such a paper.
Chairman of the SNK
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)
11267
ON THE SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL
(TELEGRAM TO N. I. PODVOISKY)
April 1, 1918
The Supreme Military Council is placed at the head of the country's defense,
which is assigned the following tasks:
a) instructing the military and naval departments with the main
tasks of defending the state;
b) instructing the defense departments with tasks of organizing
the country's armed forces (army and navy);
c) uniting the activities of the army and navy and resolving
all issues common to the military and naval departments;
d) overseeing the implementation by the defense departments
of the tasks assigned to them, and
e) systematically gathering factual information about all
military personnel, according to their knowledge and combat experience, suitable for
positions of higher military command.
The Supreme Military Council shall consist of:
1. As Chairman—the People's Commissar for Military
Affairs;
2. The People's Commissar for Naval Affairs, a member of the collegium
of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs;
3. Two military specialists
possessing military knowledge and combat experience, and one naval
specialist, also possessing military knowledge and combat
experience.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)

Printed from the original, signed by
V. I. Lenin.

TELEGRAMS TO THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF SOVIETS OF SIBERIA ON PREPARING
DEFENSE AGAINST JAPANESE OCCUPANTS
10079
April 5, 1918
I fully approve the resolution of Centro-Siberia.
I advise preparing warehouses of food and other products,
even by way of requisition, in order to seriously put in place
a defense. Negotiations with ambassadors should begin with us
today*. It is clear that no assurances can now be given
credence and the only serious guarantee is solid military preparation on our part.
Lenin
Printed from a typewritten copy.
23700
Urgent. Top priority. Governmental
April 13, 1918
In response to your note regarding the foreign commissariat under
Centro-Siberia and the independence of Siberia, I deem it necessary
to inform you that, in the opinion of the Council of People's Commissars, there is no
necessity for a foreign commissariat under Centro-Siberia; the so-called independence of Siberia will only formally facilitate
the matter of annexation from the East; before you are the examples of independent
Ukraine, Finland. I propose limiting ourselves to the autonomy
of Siberia, as an inseparable part of Russia, and stopping at the institution
of commissars under the People's Commissariat for Foreign
Affairs, from which you will receive directives and in whose name
you will act.
Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
Lenin
Printed from the original, written by
I. V. Stalin
and signed by
V. I. Lenin.
* On April 5, Japan landed troops in Vladivostok. On the same
day, the Soviet government transmitted a note to the Entente representatives
protesting the Japanese invasion.