85. To G. V. CHICHERIN[1]
Chicherin:
In my opinion, the Brest treaty cannot forbid us to
combat pirate-insurgents (armed merchant vessels),
||
and it is
necessary to find a form for our naval forces to give an
armed rebuff to the rebels.
Lenin
Notes
[1] This note to G. V. Chicherin was written following the receipt of a report that troops of the Transcaucasian bourgeois government, supported by a flotilla of armed merchant vessels, were advancing on Sukhum, creating a threat to the entire Black Sea coast. In the draft of a telegram submitted to Lenin, which was addressed to Sablin, Chief of the Naval Forces of the Black Sea Fleet, the latter was instructed to arm a number of Soviet merchant ships and send them for the defence of Sukhum.
On May 20, 1918, the Soviet Government sent a Note to the German Government protesting against the German military authorities conniving at the actions of the armed merchant ships of “the so-called Transcaucasian government, which is recognised by absolutely nobody in Transcaucasia”.