[1920, September, no later than 23]

Statement of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
Russia and Poland face a new winter campaign, new sacrifices and deprivations for millions of working people in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.
The war between Poland and Russia, caused by the attack on Russia and Ukraine and **supported by the Entente in its imperialist interests**, still continues. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee, imbued with the desire to spare these millions from the continuation of the war, considers it its duty to take the most decisive steps towards the quickest cessation of hostilities and the signing of a preliminary peace.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee believes that the basis upon which a desirable agreement could be reached in the shortest possible time must be the implementation of the principle of self-determination for all regions whose territorial boundaries were disputed during the war.
Proceeding from the full recognition of the principle of self-determination, the RSFSR already in 1917 recognized and invariably recognizes unconditionally and without any restrictions the independence and sovereignty of the Polish Republic, in 1918 the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and Byelorussia, and in 1920 signed a peace treaty with the independent and sovereign Lithuanian Republic.
Continuing the same policy, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee believes that the foundation of peace must be, firstly, the immediate solemn confirmation by both Poland and Russia of the independence of Ukraine, Lithuania, Byelorussia, and the recognition of the independence of Eastern Galicia. **Secondly**, both Poland and Russia must immediately and officially recognize, as a form of expressing the will of the respective nations, those state representative institutions (sejms, parliaments, or congresses of soviets) that exist in each of these **countries**. For its part, the RSFSR, taking into account that the Soviet system has not yet been established in Eastern Galicia, is prepared to agree to a plebiscite in this region not according to the Soviet principle, i.e., the voting of the working people, but according to the usual bourgeois-democratic principle.
However, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee cannot but draw attention to the fact that the point of view of the Polish delegation fundamentally raskhoditsya [diverges] on these issues from the point of view of the RSFSR. For example, the chairman of the Polish delegation in Minsk, despite obvious facts and the clear will of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian peasants, did not recognize the self - determination of Ukraine and Byelorussia, which had occurred as early as 1918.
Of course, if one takes such a point of view, then any talk of self-determination is useless. Of course, if we cannot immediately come to an agreement on the recognition of the two most basic and most simply realizable conditions for the practical recognition of self-determination mentioned above, then any talk of self-determination will be useless or even harmful as a cover for a policy that does not seriously desire peace.
Therefore, not wishing to allow any ambiguities or delays on the most important and urgent issue for the working masses, namely on the question of the winter campaign, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee proposes to the government of Poland, if an immediate agreement on self-determination cannot be reached, to immediately conclude the following agreement on the basic principles of peace, setting aside those contentious issues and disagreements in the interpretation of general principles, on the basis of which a speedy achievement of peace would be impossible.
In fulfillment of this, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee declares that:
1. The RSFSR, taking note of the statement by the Polish delegation regarding the unacceptability for it of the original conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian delegation concerning the reduction of the Polish army's strength, the demobilization of its military industry, the surrender of its weapons, and the transfer of the Volkovysk—Grayvo railway to the full ownership of the RSFSR, the Government of the RSFSR, for its part, renounces these conditions and expresses its readiness to make a proposal in the same spirit to the allied Ukrainian Republic.
2. The RSFSR is ready to immediately sign an armistice and preliminaries of peace on the basis of recognizing as the border between Poland and Russia a line passing significantly east of the border established by the Supreme Allied Council on December 3, 1919, with the proviso that Eastern Galicia remains to the west of this border.
The RSFSR believes that with this proposal it has done everything possible and necessary for the quickest achievement of peace and the deliverance of the Russian, Polish, Byelorussian, Ukrainian working masses from the burden of a new winter campaign. **Poland's rejection of this proposal** would mean, in our conviction, that Poland has decided, probably under pressure from the imperialists of France and other Entente countries, on a winter campaign. Therefore, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee is forced to declare that this proposal is valid for 10 days; after this period, our delegation in Riga has the right to change the proposed conditions. The All-Russian Central Executive Committee is convinced that letting this period elapse will, in fact, predetermine the question of the winter campaign.