TELEGRAM TO ALL VOLGA SOVIET DEPUTIES
August 22, 1918
The Council of People’s Commissars hereby orders you to strictly comply with all directives issued by the Ter-Gabrielyan and Kviatkovsky Expedition concerning the import and export of crude oil, gasoline, and petroleum products within your jurisdiction.
Any obstruction placed in the way of the Expedition’s mission by officials of your Soviet will be regarded as an act directed against Soviet power and will be punished to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of the revolutionary period.
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars
V. Ulyanov (Lenin)