Vladivostok.
Personally to Fleet Admiral Comrade Kuznetsov
and Admiral Comrade Yumashev.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief has ordered:

1. Without his authorization, no naval operations for the seizure of the ports of Port Arthur and Dalny are to be undertaken and no ships are to be sent there. The said ports will be occupied by our troops from the air and by land on August 23, 1945.

2. Maximum attention is to be devoted to a serious reinforcement of the Kamchatka region, both with combat ships and with fleet aviation, so as to clear the islands of Shumshu, Paramushir, and Araito of the Japanese more quickly, and subsequently to consolidate them firmly, since the Kuril straits near Kamchatka are our main outlet to the ocean.
Urgent measures are being taken by me to reinforce this sector of the front with ground troops and aviation.
Your considerations for report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on this question I request you communicate to me no later than 24:00 on August 22.

3. The operation to land our troops from Sakhalin Island onto Hokkaido Island must be refrained from until further instructions from the Stavka. The transfer of the 87th Rifle Corps to Sakhalin Island is to continue.

4. In connection with the Mikado's statement of readiness to capitulate, in the Kuril Islands I request you think through the question of the possibility of transferring the lead division of the 87th Rifle Corps from Sakhalin Island to the Southern Kuril Islands (Kunashir and Iturup), bypassing Hokkaido Island. Your considerations on this question I request you communicate to me no later than the morning of August 23, 1945.

Commander-in-Chief
Vasilevsky
August 22, 1945
14 hours 55 minutes.

Voenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal. 1994. No. 3. P. 9.
TsAMO RF. F. 66. Op. 178499. D. 8. L. 379-380.