TELEGRAM FROM M. V. FRUNZE **1.
Tashkent. Turkestan Front. Frunze.
[February 24, 1920]
Immediately, and with the utmost urgency, assemble two route trains: dispatch half of the [wagons!] loaded with crude oil, and the other half loaded with gasoline, to Moscow. Take vigorous measures to ensure the prompt departure of these trains under your own guard, and to expedite their advance to Moscow. Report on the execution of these orders by telegraph.
Also report on the status of Cheleken oil and oil in general.
Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, Lenin.
Chief of Supply, A. I. Rykov.

In mid-January 1920, our troops seized the Dossor oilfields (the western part of the Kazakh ASSR), which were connected via an oil pipeline to the Great Rakushchaya Terminal (on the Caspian Sea), where approximately 12 million poods of crude oil had been discovered.
M. V. Frunze, Commander of the Turkestan Front, promptly reported this development to the Defense Council, the Revolutionary Military Council, and the Chief of Supply.