Please accept our answer: It seems to us that you are a little bit caught1. Now it is necessary to get out of it. The presence of their troops in the Murmansk region and the actual support rendered to Murman, as a military-political act of a certain character, the British can use in case of further complication of the international conjuncture as a basis for occupation. We advise you to draw up an official paper to report to the central government, i.e. to the Council of People's Commissars, on the affairs in your area, and in this paper mention the treaty as if in passing, giving its text according to the minutes, and mainly the statement of the British and French against the possible occupation of the area also according to the minutes of your meeting with them. Further, you should in a very kind form suggest to the Anglo-French that these statements about the occupation should be recognized as true. You can refer to the fact that in the constitution of the Russian Republic you, as the representative of the authorities in the district, are obliged to submit to the central government a completely accurate report, documented by speeches, on such an important event as the organization of defense in the district against the advance of the Germans and their Finnish agents to the sea. If you achieve this, it will be a serious step towards the speedy elimination of the confused situation which, in our opinion, you have created against your will. This report of yours to the Government must be absolutely official, but secret, i.e. not to be published. At the same time, the other day we are sending you detachments of armed Red Guards2 and one person who will be a permanent link between you and Moscow3. We ask you very much to inform the Government more often. Tell us what you think of our proposal4.

Lenin. Stalin.

Published in part: Lenin V.I. Military Correspondence. M., 1957, p. 32.

Fund 2, op. 1, d. 25615, fol. 4 - record of the telegraphist.

1The telegram of A.M.Yuriev, to which Lenin and Stalin replied, has not been found. It is about the relations of the Murmansk Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies with the representatives of the Allied Powers who settled in Murmansk at the outbreak of World War 1. On March 1, 1918. The Murmansk Soviet, referring to the rumors about the forthcoming attack of White Finnish and German detachments on the Murmansk railroad, applied to the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR for guidelines "especially on the question in what forms the assistance in manpower and material force" offered by the Allied missions could be acceptable. The Soviet did not have its own military formations sufficient to repel the attack. On the same day a reply signed by the Commissar for Foreign Affairs L.D.Trotsky came from Moscow, which, in particular, said: "You are obliged to accept any assistance of the allied missions and to oppose all obstacles against predators" (The Struggle for the Establishment and Consolidation of Soviet Power in Murmansk. Murmansk, 1960, pp. 145, 147). This directive was confirmed by Lenin and Stalin on April 9-10, 1918 (see doc. 123). Relying on Trotsky's directive, the chairman of the Murmansk Soviet, Yuriev, concluded on March 2, 1918. On March 2, 1918, based on Trotsky's directive, the chairman of the Murmansk Soviet, Yuriev, concluded a "verbal agreement" (the record of the negotiations refers to it) as follows: "§ 1. The supreme authority within the Murmansk district belongs to the Murmansk Soviet. § 2. The supreme command of all the armed forces of the district belongs under the supremacy of the sovdep to the Murmansk military council of 3 persons - one appointed by the Soviet power and one each from the British and the French. § 3. The British and the French do not interfere in the internal administration of the district: they are informed by the sovdep of all decisions of the sovdep of general importance in such forms as are deemed necessary by the circumstances of the case. § 4. The Allies take care of supplying the region with necessary supplies" (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. 1. M., 1957, p. 221). On the basis of this agreement, on March 6, the British cruiser "Glory" entered Murmansk port and landed a landing force of 170 marines. On March 14 the landing force was landed from the British cruiser "Cochrane", on March 18 from the French cruiser "Admiral Aube".

In response, German submarines intensified the blockade of the coast, and in the middle of May sank several Norwegian and Russian peace ships, through diplomatic channels, representations were made to the Soviet government about the violation of neutrality. The actions of the Murmansk Council in the complicated situation provoked an increasingly negative reaction from the Soviet Government. "Contrary to our protests your imprudent policy is leading the Krai to ruin. England is sending counter-revolutionaries against the Soviet power through Murmansk" - stated G.V.Chicherin on May 12, 1918. Reporting to the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Ya.M.Sverdlov about the anti-German demarche in Murmansk after the attack of submarines, Chicherin noted: "The Murmansk regional soviet council, protesting and calling to arms against the imperialists of Germany, does not object to the actions of the imperialists of England, firmly settled in Murmansk". On Sverdlov's instructions, the People's Commissariat warned the Murmansk leaders: "No local Soviet organization should seek help from one imperialist coalition against another. In case of an offensive by the Germans or their allies, we will protest and, to the best of our ability, fight. We also protest against the stay of the British in Murmansk" (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. I, p. 313). On June 1, 1918 the conference of military representatives of the Entente countries in Paris decided to expand the intervention in the North of Russia. On June 6, 1918 Lenin and Chicherin reminded Murmansk: "...In view of the Brest Treaty resolutions, military vessels of the British and their allies should not appear near our northern shores" (Decrees of Soviet power. Vol. II. M., 1959, pp. 611-612). A.M. Yuryev telegraphed on June 14 his disagreement with Lenin: "The anti-union policy of the Kraesovet is impossible. It is impossible to force the Allies to leave by force. Military force is unquestionably on their side" (The Struggle for the Establishment and Consolidation of Soviet Power in Murman, p. 199). On June 25, 1918 Lenin and Trotsky ordered the Murmansk Krevoy Soviet to organize a response to the British landing, the landing of which "cannot be regarded otherwise than as an act hostile to the Republic" (Decrees..., vol. II, p. 622). On June 26 Lenin told Yuriev by direct wire: "If you are still not favorable to understand Soviet policy, equally hostile to both the British and the Germans, then blame yourself .... With the British we will be at war if they continue their policy of plunder" (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. I, p. 376). At the moment of the landing of the Anglo-French landing force, the Extraordinary Commissar of the Murmansk-Belomorsk region S.P.Natsarenus said: "Murmansk sovdep, not obeying my orders, entered into an independent agreement with the Anglo-French, broke with the Workers' and Peasants' power, thus joining the ranks of the enemies of the revolution" (Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. I, p. 379). By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of July 1, 1918, Yuriev was declared an enemy of the people and outlawed (see: Decrees..., vol. II, p. 521).

2In the first half of April 1918, detachments of Red Guards were sent from Petrograd to expel the invading White Finns from Kemsky district.

3It is probably about N.I.Podvoisky, who visited Murmansk on March 15-18, in early April and May 2, 1918 reported at the meetings of the Council of People's Commissars on the situation in Murmansk.

Whether his trip to Murmansk in April 1918. - It has not been possible to establish whether his trip to Murmansk took place in April 1918 - see doc. 122, note 3. May 10, 1918. The Council of People's Commissars appointed S.P. Natsarenus as the Extraordinary Commissar of the Murmansk-Belomorsk region.

4Cf. variant of the text: Documents of Foreign Policy of the USSR. Vol. I, pp. 220-221.