OR A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

[13 June 1918]

Telegram to Tsaritsyn.

To Stalin or Shlyapnikov

It is extremely important that you leave without the slightest delay for Novorossiysk in order to achieve compliance by the fleet with the government's order. A number of telegrams on this have already been sent to Novorossiysk. If the government's order is not carried out by the fleet without the slightest delay, then inevitable will be a German offensive and the taking of Novorossiysk by the Germans—such is the exact and definitive German ultimatum.

Exert all efforts to accomplish the trip to Novorossiysk and to achieve execution of the order².

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Lenin

Published according to typewritten copy