Decree of the State Defense Committee on the Evacuation of the Capital of the USSR, Moscow, 15 October 1941

Source: Tom 18

Source: Tom 18

Top Secret

Of Special Importance

In view of the unfavorable situation in the area of the Mozhaysk defense line, the State Defense Committee decrees:

1. To instruct Comrade Molotov to inform the foreign missions that they are to evacuate today to the city of Kuibyshev. (The People's Commissariat of Railways -- Comrade Kaganovich -- is to ensure the timely provision of trains for the missions, and the NKVD -- Comrade Beria -- is to organize their security.)

2. Today to evacuate the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and also the government, headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Comrade Molotov. (Comrade Stalin will evacuate tomorrow or later, depending on the situation.)

3. The organs of the People's Commissariat of Defense and the People's Commissariat of the Navy are to evacuate immediately to the city of Kuibyshev, and the main group of the General Staff to Arzamas.

4. In the event that enemy troops appear at the gates of Moscow, to instruct the NKVD -- Comrade Beria -- and Comrade Shcherbakov to carry out the demolition of enterprises, warehouses, and institutions that cannot be evacuated, as well as all electrical equipment of the metro (excluding the water supply and sewage system).

Chairman of the State Defense Committee

I. Stalin

Izvestiya TsK KPSS. 1990. No. 12. P. 217.

Note: "Depending on the situation," Stalin did not leave the capital, and it was not necessary to blow up its enterprises and institutions.