Member of the CC of the VKP(b), Marshal of the Soviet Union, and Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Kulik G.I., acting as representative of the Stavka of the Supreme Command for the Kerch direction, instead of honest and unconditional fulfillment of the order of the Stavka of November 7, 1941, on the active defense of Sevastopol and the Kerch peninsula with all forces and the order of the Stavka of November 14, 1941, "to hold Kerch at all costs and not to allow the enemy to occupy this region," on his own initiative, in violation of the orders of the Stavka and his military duty, issued on November 12, 1941, a criminal order for the evacuation from Kerch within two days of all troops and the abandonment of the Kerch region to the enemy, as a result of which Kerch was surrendered on November 15, 1941.

Upon his arrival in Kerch on November 10, 1941, Kulik not only failed to take resolute measures on the spot against the defeatist attitudes and defeatist behavior of the command of the Crimean forces, but by his defeatist behavior in Kerch only intensified the defeatist attitudes and demoralization among the command of the Crimean forces.

Such behavior on the part of Kulik is not accidental, since analogous defeatist behavior on his part had also occurred in the unauthorized surrender in November 1941 of the city of Rostov, without the sanction of the Stavka and contrary to the orders of the Stavka.

For all these criminal actions, the State Defense Committee brought Kulik G.I. to trial. The Special Tribunal of the Supreme Court of the USSR established the guilt of Kulik G.I. in the unauthorized surrender of Kerch in November 1941, in violation of the orders of the Stavka, in the criminal violation of his military duty, and in introducing demoralization into the forces of the Kerch direction.

Kulik G.I. admitted his guilt in the charges brought against him by the court. The court sentenced him to be stripped of the rank of Marshal and Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as of his orders of the USSR and the medal "XX Years of the RKKA."

Kulik G.I. appealed to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to annul the verdict. The Presidium rejected Kulik G.I.'s request.

Moreover, the CC of the VKP(b) has learned of facts that Kulik, during his time at the front, systematically engaged in drunkenness, led a dissolute way of life, and, abusing the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union and Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, engaged in self-supply and embezzlement of state property, squandering hundreds of thousands of rubles of state funds.

In view of all the foregoing, the Politburo of the CC of the VKP(b) resolves:

1. To expel Kulik G.I. from the membership of the CC of the VKP(b).

2. To relieve Kulik G.I. of the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR.

Secretary of the CC of the VKP(b)

I. Stalin

Istorichesky arkhiv. 1992. No. 1. P. 63.

AP RF. F. 2. Op. 2. D. 191. L. 1-6.