ORGANIZATION OF THE MINISTRY OF THE RIVER FLEET - MRF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A000100550011-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 4, 2009
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: April 29, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
. SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
SUBJECT Organization of the Ministry of the
River Fleet
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 29 April 1953
NO. OF PAGES 19
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1.
The Ministry of the River Fleet was created in 1939 as an independent organization.
Prior to that it.was a part of the People's Commissariat for Water Transport
(Narkomvod), and before that.!it,.he early thirties, it was under the People's Com-
missariat tar Communications (Putey Soobshcheniya), From 1939 to 1946 the Depart-
ment of the River Fleet-'Was called the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet
(Narkomrechflot)a In 1946, however, when all People's Commissariats were renamed
ministries, the Narkomrechflot became the Ministry of the River Fleet (Minrechflot-
MRF), its present title,. This ministry is subordinate to the USSR Council of
Ministers through the council's deputy, Lavrentiy Beriyaa From 1939 until the present
time, the Minister of the River Fleet has been General Director of the River Fleet
Zo?i-,m Shashkov, a very capable organizer and an expert in river fleet matters.
Shashkov is a former graduate of the Leningrad Water Transport Engineering Institute,
class of 19350
20 MRF headquarters were located in Moscow on Ploshchad Dzerzhinskogo. There were approx-
imately 1,000. employees in the Ministry itself and probably over 100,000 in subordinate
agencies and organizations. The main responsibilities of MRF were-
a4 Transportation on rivers and.canals;
be Mairiteriance of the 'river fleet and river routes;
& Creation of new river navigation lines (J\
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3
(b) The Deputy nister:Technical (name unknown) officially the first deputy.
He coordinated the activity of the three main administrations, as follows:
(1) Central Directorate of River Industry (TsURechProm)
(2) Central Technical Directorate (TsTU) composed of three sections:
(c)
w
c
rations p
R-Caspian Sea basin-Aral?skoye Sea-Lake Issyk Kul. He coordinated the
activity of the two central directorates;
a. Bureau of Inventions
b. Central Designing Bureau
c. Fuel and Energy Section
(3) Central Directorate of River Construction (TsURechStroy).
Deputy MinistergGeneral Director of the River Fleet, 1st Class, Aleksandr
Nikolayevich Vakhturov in charge of all MRF agencies and field organ-
h o erated southwest of the line: Neman R-Karma R-Volga
h?
(1) The Central Directorate of the Volga-Kama Basin (TsUpr),whose head
was General. Director River Fleet 2nd Class Romashchenko (fnu).
(2) The Central Directorate of the Southern Basins (director unknown).
(d) The Third-De uty Minister (name unknown) - - coordinated the activity
of MRF organizations and agencies northeast of the above line (see 9 (c)
above). This deputy was in charge of two central directorates:
(1)
(f)
Central Directorate of Northern Basins: (no demarcation line
known).
(2) Central Directorate of Eastern Basins: (no demarcation line
known)
The Deputy Minister Personnel (name unknown) -- coordinated' the
activity of the central directorates and one section:
(1) Central Directorate of Personnel (TsUprKadrov). The TsUpr was
Colonel, Director of. Administrative Service River Fleet, (fnu)
Korepanovp
(2) Central Directorate of Educational Institutions (TsUUZ) (head
unknown).
(3) Central Militarized Guard (head unknown)
The Deputy Minister for General Administration - - Officially the second
deputy of the Minister, but in practice the strongest and most important
man in the Ministry, excluding Minister Shashkov. This deputy had under
his administration a large number of TsUprgs and sections whose names
and activity describe below. Although not officially broken into
two groups, the large number of sections under this deputy minister may,
for practical purposes, be divided into two distinct groups: technical
services and administrative services (See Encl (A), "Organization
Chart - MRF').
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-.5-
The Political. Department of MRF and the political sections of
almost. all.. steamship companiesWerg composed of the :following.
sections.'. and subsections,. respectively:
(1) The.Propaganda and Agitation Section organized and conducted
both individual and. mass propaganda for "political enlight-
enment" among the organization's personnel. The normal
channel of this propaganda was through organized,cells
?(kruzhki). Lectures were held two times weekly, three hogs
per day, or (as on ships, due to special working conditions)
four to five, times weekly, one hour daily.. The other method
of "enlightenment" was individual. An individual studied.
Party history and.related material without any outside help,.
and appearelperiodically before some representative of the
political's eotion in order to pass a required examination.
This did not give the employee any advantage over his
co-workers, except that he would be savod'f,rom the press
d
- 11 --n- -
-
e to se wss in a responsibly pos tion. In'kddition ,
.y
propaganda.and on programs, political seat 3ons
organized weekly or even bi-weekly lectures on current
political dogma and slogans.
(2) The Collective Work Section was mainly concerned with the
promotion of the Stakhanov System among MRP workers. This
was the program which fought against appearances which may
be characterised as "an inheritance of . the capitalist pas
and included going to church on Sundays, the desire for a
better job and better working and'living conditions,
loafing, drinking, etc. All these tendencies were qualified
as incompatible with the Soviet state and contrary to its
Ideology. Unofficially, though, the main task of this section
was to spy on MRF personnel.
(3) he Komsomol section was charged with the organization of
Icomsomal groups of MRF organizations. It is of interest to.
note that since the end of World War It membership has been
on a oonstanb decline. Youngsters did not like to join the
Komsomol air more and very often avoided membership. Theo
main reason for this, vn the poor axp erie y.. 25X1
after WW II of many sincere Idealistic youngsters who came
to realise the true aims of the Soviet government. ~A
rather widespread opinion in the USSR was that the Komsomol
is the best school for training enemies of the Soviet regime"
Disaffection and defeatism among Komsomol members and the
younger generation in the USSR presented a serious problem
to the Soviet Government.
(4) The Party Office and Library was usually a room,or just a
corner. in some hall with pictures of Lenin, Stalin,
propaganda slogans, magazines, newspapers, books, etc.
Periodical lectures, meetings, and discussions eheld in
this room. At larger shore installations of MRF? these
offices may have been composed of several rooms; on vessele
they were normally located in a corner of some adequate rO6
3.4. The ce tral 'Z rebtorate-of River Induetr Teentral fnoye
ravleniye Rechnoy Promyshlennosti TsUpRechProm was char ed with
nritan4vtoM on dfl work in industrial enterprises of MRF. 25X1
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s160 E
150 The ' sntr 1 (Teentral'noye Tekhnicheskoye
Upravleniye - TeTU). All technical problems connected with the
utilization of shipyards and the repair of machinery from individual
shins were handled by this organization.
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16. The Centr,&i. Dir,acctorrate of River Construction (Tsentral'noye
Upravleniye Rechnogo,Stroitel'stva - TsURechStroy) had about 40-50
employees; out of this number about 25 were engineers. The main tasks
of this agency were as follows:
(a) Planning, financing, and organizing construction works in new
river ports and MRF industrial enterprises, reconstruction of
those damaged or destroyed during WW II and modernization of
old ones.
(b) Technical supervision of construction and maintenance works in
ports and industrial installations.
(o) Financial control of above worki%
V 119d agencies of the of River Constructions were
,xe,&onal construction 1' r _,~L Y c construction trusts, and
construction sections (StroyUprivleniye, StroyTreet, StroyUohaetok)
The internal organization and scope of activity o -1-these aze es was
similar to those of GlavNorStroy agencies of M F All 25X1
larger steamship companies and river ports had ei her a construction
d ricto eta ' or a construction trust; smaller ones had construction
sections. MRF shipyards and ship repair yards had their own
construction agencies, referred to as o tine's of i, 2Ap #a1 construc-
tions (Otdel Kaaital'naga Straitel'stva, , which weNdireetly subordin-
ate to respective yards. The expansion and maintenance work do34e7by
these offices was not paid from the yards' exploitation funds, but
out of special funds allocated for the exploitation and maintenance
purposes of these yards. Construction, reconstruction, and maintenance
of plants' housing projects and other facilities not strictly connected
with production activity of said yards, however,v4. paid out of their
exploitation funds.
17. The D.ir t,orat : of Volga-Kama Basin (Tsentral'noye
Upravleniye Volzhsko-Kamskogo Basseyna) was in charge of the organiza-
tion of river transport in the Volga-Kama region and was composed of
eight river steamship companies, as follows:
(a) Volga Freight Steamship Company (Volzhskoye Oruzovoye Reohnoye
Parokhodetvo - VOEP).
(b) Volga Freight Passenger Steamship a ~~~~is o e Gruzovoye Pasdazhirskoye
Reohnoye Parokhodstvo - VOPRP).
(0) Volga Tanker (Volzhekoye Neftenalivnoye Reohnoye Parokhodstvo -
VolgaTanker).
(d) Kama Steamship Company (Kamskoye Parokhodetvo).
(e) Moscow-Volga Canal Steamship Company (Parokhodstvo Moskva-
Volga Kanal).
(f) Moscow-Oka Steamship Company (Moskovsko-Okekoye P*rokhodstvo).
(g) Belaya River Steamship Company (Bel'ekoye Parokhodstvo).
(h) Vyatka River Steamship Company (Vyatekoye Par?khodetvo).
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The ` ntra1 Di adtor'ate ` of Southern Basins (Teentral'noye Upravlemiye
Ymzhnykh Baseeynov) was in charge of the organization of river trans-
ports in. tTSSR southern regions and was composed of six river etes*
ship companies, as follows:
(a) Volga-Don Steamship Company. (Volzhsko-Donskoye Parokhodetvo).
.(b) Dnepr Steamship Company (Dnnep'ovskoye Parokhodetvo).
(a) -upper Dnepr Steamship Company (Verkhne.-Dneprovskoye P.arokhodetvo).
(d) Nemam Steamship Company (Nemamakoye Parokhodstvo)
(e) Middle Asiatic Steamship Company (Sredne-Aziatskoye Parokh?dstVo).
(f) Iseyk-Cull Steamship Company (Issyk-1Cul'skoye Parakhodttvo).
1 The :C intr .' Dj edto 'ats .. of Northern Basins (Teentral'moye Upravleniye
Severnykh Basseynov) was in charge of the organization of river .traa$-
ports in USSR northern regions and was composed of six steamship
:companies as follows:
(a) Northern Steamship Company (Severnoye Parokhodstvo).
(b) Northwestern River Steamship Company (Severo-Zapadnoye Reohnoye
Paro odstvo - SZRP).
(c) Shekena River Steamship Company (Sheksninskole Reohnoye
?arokhodstvo).
.(d) Suk ona River Steamship Company (Sukhonskoye Reoluloye
Parokhodatvo).
Ce) a Steamship Company (Belomorskeo-oneshekoye
garokhods v
Peohora Steamship Company (Peohorskoye Parokhodstvo).
20. The Of Eastern, Basin$ (Tsentral'noyye Upravleniye
Basseyfov Vostochnyich Rayonov supervised and ,coordinated activities
of the following seven steamship oo sniesa
(e)
Lower trtysh River Steamship Company (Nishae-Irtyshskoys
Reohnoys Parokhodstvo).
Upper Irtysh River Steamship Company (Verkhne-Irtys)iskoye
Rechnoye Parokhodstvo).
West Siberian Steamship Company (Zapadno-Sibirskoys Psrokhodstvo),
Teraisey River Steamship Company (Yeniseyakoye Reohnoys
Parokhodstvo).
East Siberian Steamship Company (Vostoohno-$ibirskoye Reohnoyt:.
Parokhodstvo) .
Lena, River Steamship 9o+ CLen.~~"0?'Reehno74 ftrokhodstVO),
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(3) The Water Engineering Institute in Gortkiy (Gor=kovskiy
institut Inzhenerov Vodnogo Transporta - GIIVT) -- one of
the, oldest water engineering schools,. organized
approximately 100 years ago. The organization and
curriculum of this institute was almost identical to tYt;
of LIIVT. The over-all annual enrollment in both of these
institutes is 600-700 students. The annual graduation was
about 400-450 engineers from both schools.
The Section of Intermediate Educational Institutions = 4 Shop-boy
Schools (Sektor Srednikh Uchebanykh Zavedeniy i Shkol Yung) - about
eight to 10 employees worked in this seotion,whioh orgaized and
supervised education in river schools (Rechnoye Uohilishohe) and
ship-boy schools. Both types organized similarly
to equivalent maritime schools Students of river 25X1
schools wore a uniform consisti ue blouse, black
trousers, and a black visor garrison cap with a white elliptical
badge and black anchor. Blouses and overcoats were provided with
navy blue shoulder boards and white piping. Students of Ship-boy
Schools wore a sailor's uniform, and a cap without a visor. The
cap was provided with a band inscribed "...(city)...Shkola Tung".
There were approximately 30 river schools in USSR with a total
enrollment of four thousand students manually, and approximately
three thousand graduated a year.
(a) Company Training School Section (Sektor Uohebno-Rureovykh
Kombinatov) -- the responsibility of this section was the
q;ganization, and supervision of company training schools. Such
schools existed in all larger river steamship companies and were
organized similarly to equivalent schools in the merchant marine.,,
The only difference was that in river company training schools
a special stress was put on river pilotage instead of navigation:,
and on training in towing (tugging) service; in addition, stress
was put on the study of gradient stem engines and trunk Diesel
engines in the engineering oourse
It is of interest to not that this particular type of training is
or anized much better in MRF than in 4 especially in regard to
school buildings, et dent f billets and training facilities, and is
another instance of the beAter over-all organization of ", as
compared with .
230 The Mobilization ,avi`:.i.b.n (voyenno-iobilizatsionnyy Otdel) had about
20 employees who took charge of registry and the main file of MME
employees and employees of MA 'Bs subordinate organizations who were
liable to mobilization and military duty in case of war. This
department also maintained a file of personnel who were exempt from
military service in wartime spetsuohet). Another responsibility
was to maintain a register of MRF a s mobilization reserves, ievessels,
motor vehicles, horse-drawn vehicles, rescue equipment, weapons,
non-ferrous metals, machinery, spare parts, clothing, etc. Some of
these stocks were forbidden to be used at all; some reserves could
be used under the condition that the material and equipment would be
restocked in the shortest period of time. Special attention was paid
in this department to the organization of the anti-aircraft defenses
(M) of shore installations and vessels. Based-on my experience with
VolgaTanker, however, these preparations have never gone beyond the
planning stage. All PVC measures were probably planned carefully on
paper, but the weapons and equipment required for this purpose were
received, nor even scheduled for delivery in mid,-1951L- j 25X1
On the whole, organization of mobilization service In 1' was 25X1
r to SIP, and every river steamship company had its own
mobilization section which was charged with duties prescribed by the
MIRF mobilizatio a department
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The Transport 5aririon (Otdel perevozok), possessing 40-50 e> 11oyeea,
wag sometimes referred to as the office of the Centr 1Dispatcher
entral!s-yy. pispeeher) . TheTrana3 ,ort " Section was responsible
for the. ..over "over-all organization of river transports within ''$SR bOrdere
through the four main regional administrations of basins (Volga-Katz,
Southern, 'Northern, Eastern). The primary responsibilities of :this
sectioe were:
(a) The , preparation . of daily charts of river fleet movements,
accounting for every individual vessel's position at 1800 . hrs
(data for daily charts are received from the respective Tsuprs)
Charts which were. prepared on the last day of every month
accounted for the position of vessels at 2400 bra.
(b) The preparation of the Dispatcher' s Journal, daily charts
istering the vessels posit_ on a 3 -600 "s, which contain
re
g
information as to amounts of transported cargoes (expresse.d. in
terms of ,tonnage a and .cargo types) p starting from the. first
navigation day eaac i, fear. These charts were prepared so that...
every.daayto cargo* added to the preceding one to. Thus, the
.
last day's cargo.in any navigation year represented the total..of.
transported cargoes in tons and types throughout the .entire
asavi~atioacaal gear. In a similar way monthly charts were. pre ared
which gave this information at 2400 hrs on the last. . dad of the
month. The Digatcher's Journal and all information for Its,
preparation were aoo3zas me're secret, Data interchanged ,between
river steamship companies and TsTJprs was transmitted in code..
The oontrol a n d supervision over the fulfillment of . the 1
transport plan (indirectly by .river steamship. companies)...and .the
handling of cargoes in ports.
The establishing of working norms for MV called "Operational
Efficiency Indexes.,. (Rksploatatsionnyy Izmeritell),..These,
eriods of time allowed .to every, type of
d the
ib
p
e
indexes prescr
vessel to cover .certain, river distances while loaded and empty,
the ' tine allowed for a tarting and landing, the time allowed' in.
ports for loading and unloading (lyako-normy),.the.time allowed.
for flushing of .boilers in ports, etc.
(a) The satisfaction of requests for transport ofs e1e rgency .
cargoes not envisaged in transport plans -so-called-
"dislocation of. , t sports" .
(f) The over-all supervision of port activity insofar as processing
of cargoes was concerned,'
Work dome in this consisted of the compilation of various.,
data. received from TsUprs, who ,in turn ,received data from subordinate,
steamship companies. The larger share of work, however,, was., doaae ,by
the TeMpra. The Transport dtti, ,iora as asnob, was not concerned
with'statistical data of MR'; it conducted operational registering
exclusively, and all data released, by this section " was, given in
physical terms. the MRp transport, plan of 1950
called for 140 millions n rens orted goods. Over. 50, per, cent of
this, cargo consisted of timber, 6 out 15 per cent in construction
materials, and 15 per cent in all,
25. The Cent)ral. i. eoto s att . of Basin. Routes, (Tsentral'noye Upravleniye
intenance of river
d th
e ma
Sasseyno
~ &-- 7
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(1) Vessel's Passport (duz;ovoy Bilet) -- issued to vessels up
to 60 HP;
(2) operation Certificate, (Udostovereniye as Godnost' k
Plavaniyu) -- must be renewed every year;
Class Register Certificate (Udostovereniye o Raliohii. RIbLeffa
Registra) -- this certificate supplants the Operation
Certificate which is then not required. I 25X1
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
p11
;Tht Cbnteal. '.Dlrecto:eate . of River Register (Teentral'noye Upravl.eniy+
Rechnogo Registra), employed about 25-30 engineers and teanieid,,
w bse? main activities were as follows:
(a) To prescribe operational requirements for every type of river
fleet vessel;
(b) To prescribe specifications for every register class vessel.. and.
determine how many register class types were. to be represented
in MRP;
To. account for the technical condition of river
fleet;
{d). To supervise technical construction of new ships and overhaul
operating vessels; to insure compliance with-All rules and
regulations as prescribed by the Centres.".Direct Ve of River
Register;
(e) To insure that vessels had the necessary equipment as prescribed
by-this vecti.or
(f) To insure the provision of vessels with river registry documents.
These documents are as follows s
as.legional Inepeotorates of River Register (Limeymyye Inspek ii
Reohnogo Registra) and were located in all important river ports
and ' harbors .
slued Operation 25X1
Certificates and Class Register 25X1
Certificates, Mc powerful ships, however, are issued the
latter type of certificate. All these doc=ents are
actually the vessels' passports which authorise. them to
enter and leave the port.
(4) Boiler Inspection Book ($hnurovays.Kniga Parovykh Kotlov)--
prepared for each boiler or for several boilers of the items
type on a vessel;
(5) Compressed Air Containers Inspection Book (Shnurovaya
Kniga Vosdukhokhranilishch) -- similar to boiler inspection
book;
(6) Inspection Books -- for fire-fighting equipment, electro-
mechanical equipment, radio equipment, electrical naviga-,
tion equipment and instruments. All inspection books
contained proper nomenclature and specification of
respective equipment and parts thereof, and the prescribed
technical conditions for their maintenance. The condition
of equipment was entered into the respective books by
inspecting authorities at periodical inspections.
(') Participation in the investigation of accidents in the
river fleet together with representatives of the Centr.a1
'.D oats ?at,bof Waterways (Teentral'noye tlpravleniye
Vnutrennikh Vodnykh Putey).
Field agencies of the 'antra71 Directorate of River Register appear
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was broken into guard divisions (naval nomenclature, of units) and
fire-fighting divisions.. Divisions in turn were broken into
platoons. Such organization indicates that "divisions"were,nothing
but companies. Duties of militarized guard-detachments were to
protect the property of M F organizations and to prevent and
extinguish fires. Personnel of VOKhr guard divisions were armed
With carbines and pistols. There were also some dogs in VOKhr'units
11 were; used for '.Ake guard service.. Members of VOKhr were granted
ranks similar to those of MRF personnel, ego Colonel Director,
Lt Colonel Director, Major Director, Sera Lt Administrative Service,
etc. Nonoommiseioned officers were given. ranks of naval petty
officers, eg, starshina lst, 2nd, and 3rd class. Enlisted men were
treated like sailors and wore naval uniforms with visored caps, as
distinct from the normal naval cap without a visor. Officers and
noncommissioned officers wore naval uniforms with silver. (NCO's' white)..
shoulder boards and the "acrembled eggs" insignia on the cap.
Enlisted personnel received their uniforms from MRF; no payment was
,required. EM wages were approximately 260-300 rubles per month, out
of which,, about 100;rublee were withheld for food,: which was served
three times daily in the barracks. Quarters in the barracks were Tree'.
It should, be noted that the wages of JOKhr personnel were paid by the
MEG, and not by organisations to which they were attached. Fire
fighting divisions of VOKhr were equipped with firefighting equip-
ment, which war usually of the old,, sometimes even of obsolete,types.
46. The Executive Department ('Cpravleniye Delsmi) employed about 10
people, elnd was in charge oft
(a) Handling all the official correspondence of i RF, except
o3 sssif ed,. material.
(b) Emafercemezat of disoiplinary rules prescribed by MEG Minister for
MEG and subordinate agencies' employees.
.(a) All matters pertaining to MW personnel an TDY*
(d) Issue of official documents from MEG archives..
47. The Administrative ..:section.. Administrativno-lCohoa7 stvemnyy
Otdel) employed about 1.00 people, and was composed of the following
sections;
(a) Billeting ?- This section handled the assignment of permanent
quarters to W employees. In Moscow there were approximately,
s apartment houses belonging to MEG and used for accommodation
of higher MRF employees. The same section took oars, of billeting
problems of MEG field organisations personnel arriving in Moscow
on TDY. It was in charge of maintenance of billets, requests
for repair, *to.
(b) Archives -- This section was responsible for the arrange t.of
archives and the files of MEG unclassified correspondence. This
was done in compliance with instructions and directives received
from the Executive Department.
(e) Typist-Calculating Machine Pool -- This department reproduced
official correspondence and documents of MRF, and made all the
reports requiring calculations.
(d) Cleaning and Messenger Detail It organized and supervised
cleaning, maintenance, guard, and messenger service in the
MW building.
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48. The Editorial Office of ''River Transport;' (Izdatal'stvo iRechnoy Transport -
Rechlzdat) was the office of the MRF newspaper 'River Transport" which em-.
ployed approximately 120 persons. This was the-official newspaper of the MRF
and the MRF Political Administration. It was published three times weekly
and distributed to all MRF agencies and organizations at 40 kopeks each. The
paper was written in a rather popular style and contained internal economic
information of interest to MRF personnel, as well as regulations, instructions,
and directives of MRF. Considerable space in this newspaper was devoted to the
promotion of the Stakhanov system, and the mention of the fulfillment of alloted
plans and quotas by MRF organizations and individuals. Biographies of MRF
leading personalities, rewards, bonuses, citations given to outstanding MRF
workers often appeared. Sometimes River Transport' contained a technical
enclosure in which some technical problems of interest to B1RF personnel were
discussed. Although rather seldom, this paper sometimes published economic and
technical news from abroad. Correspondents of the ''River Transport' were
attached to all larger steamship companies. Approximate distribution of this
newspaper was 100 thousand. Subscription was "voluntary", and of course,
under the usual pressure. In addition to the River Transport , the editorial
office published service and technical manuals,of MRF. The editorial office
of River Transport also exercised supervision over the activity of local
steamship companies' editorial offices.
49. Normally, larger river steamship companies published their own newspapers; for
instance in Astrakhan, VolgaTanker's newspaper, entitled 'Za Sovietskuyu Neft'
("Drive for the Soviet Oil") distributed approximately two thousand copies at..
20 kopeks each. It is worthwhile to note that all local steamship companies'
? editorial offices were allocated the funds necessary for their operation, so.
that they did not operate on company funds. The profits of steamship company
newspapers were not returned to the state budget, however, but to the River
Transport' office,which was supposed to be a self-supporting agency. This is
just another form of the usual state subsidy for propaganda newspapers.
( Note: There is in the USSR a ministry called the Ministry of Water
Resources (Ministerstvo Vodnogo Khozyaystva). In order to avoid any misinter-
pretation of this term, it should be borne in mind that this ministry is res-
ponsible for the designing'and construction of water canals solely for irriga-
tion purposes. As such, it is closely connected with the Ministry of Agriculture,,
and has nothing to do with the Ministry of the River Fleet.
SECRET
25X1
Approved For Release 2009/02/04: CIA-RDP80-0081OA000100550011-1
 j
Approved For Release 2009/02/04: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA000100550011-1
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
Mobilization
Section
CD Educational
Institutions
CD Eastern
Basins
/9-
Office of the IUNCODEC
Senior Arbiter
v
0
CD River
Industry
0 M
SECRET
CD Northern
Basins
0
?r1
CD Southern
.Basins
CD Volga-
Kapna Basin
CD River
Construction
Central Technica
Directorate
CD Material
Technical Supply
Approved For Release 2009/02/04: CIA-RDP80-0081OA000100550011-1