COMMENTS ON SOVIET PRESS ARTICLES CONCERNING THE VOLGA-URAL CANAL AND THE STALINGRAD MAIN CANAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600040527-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 527
• Publication Date: September 28, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/21 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600040527-3
CLASSIFICATION SEC~E'T
CENTRAL INTELLIGE
IN~GRMAl'!~N REPORT'
SUBJECT Comments on Soviet Press Articles Concerning
tY,P Volga-Ural Canal and the Stalingrad Main;
PLACE
ACf~UIRED - -
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comments on this pa~o~eots
N0, OF EPJCLS.
IlISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
1. Pravda for 20 Mar 53 oarri.ea an article by ~atsov, its Alms Ata corraspcndert,
entitled "Volga-UralS1. Tbis artiole describes the economic effeot that the canal
x111 have when completed and co~taents on the unsatisfeatory attitude on the part
of a number of managerial personnel tows-d the con traction c ~eot. Using this
erticie end certain other information the following
2. In May 1952 work w8e begun in digging the ohannel for the 600-kilometer Volga-
Ural Canal. The rater ie to be taken from the dam raeervoir above Stalingrad
and x111 flow by gravity parallel with the left bank of the Volga, along western
Kezakheten~ along the narY;h Caspian plain to the Ural .River in the region of th8
toxn,of Kulagino (55.12 h*; 32.35 E).
3. Climatic c editions in the area of the canal are extremely severe at the present
time ~95~. In Gurev, for example, annual ~ecipitaticn is only 160 millimeters.
On the north Caspian plain, the rate of evaporation is three to four time the
rata c+f precl.pitation. The rivers have little water andtdry up completely in the
Sl.~Ps In? aC"L,? r:eav.~ong taiv left bares of the YOlga t46401Zbya} half tLle
populati..on is occupied in getting water out of tYle walla, and when the wells dry
up th~iy have to move to a different 1oca11ty. In this region there has even
appeei~ed a tendency to take up nomedie animal husbandry.
LAST ~I~~E ri3F'c`'~~3cJ?vT' & r~.REP, ~?L*.~~
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/21 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600040527-3
DATE DISTR.~g September 53
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/21 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600040527-3
4. Thy'future canal will take 400 cubic-meters of water per second from the Volga.
according to preliminary figures, no less than 2,000 kilometers ,of irrig?stion
canals ~witll go up and down Prom the mair. canal. The canal will be navigable
and will UH R~71~11TG? LT{J-.~ ...n.....a..-. L-LJ .._ ~ ~
rr-- y....at.uag OVaYLV11p, tSjIS'111K7.Ilg egw.pmenL, briQgeB, dams,
and looks. It is expected that ea a result of the canal 1.5 million hectares
of soil will be irrigated north of the canal, while in the north Caspian Plain
(Prikaspiyaka,va Nizmennoat), between the Volga and the Ural, about 6,5 million
ifeotares of ground will b? supplied with water for gener~3. Haas. This will
make it possible to cultivate wheat, sugar baste, cotton, rice and fodder for
linestack, Calculations by specialists indicate that by irrigating and supplying
water to the north Ce~pian plain it will be possible to increase the hay yield
six to seven, times what it is at present without sprink;.ir:g,
5. in 1953, the scope of the work an the Stalingrad Idain Canal. grew significantly.
Two hundred powerful excavators and other ?arth-digging machines are in use.
Completion of the canal will involve eight tirnea as muvh excavation as was done
on tine Volga-Don Canal. From the USSR Council of I4inisters decree (poatanov
leniye) of lO~Jun 53 we learn that 152,1 million cubic meters of earth were
excavated on the Volga-Don project,
t5, Tn his article, the ,P,,,~,y~e correspondent poi~its ou.t the ~.insatisfaotory attitude
toward the pro~eet on the part of Pcrty, (iovarn:s~ent and. agriaaltural officials
of the Kazakh SSR and in particular those of the idest Ktt~khstan and Gurst?
ablests, In addition, many of the managerial personnel do not know the purpose
of the canal,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/21 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600040527-3