THE VOLGA-DON STATE RIVER SHIPPING COMPANY OF THE CENTRAL DIRECTORATE OF SOUTHERN BASINS OF THE RIVER FLEET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000300340001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 3, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

50X1/
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/04/17 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000300340001-9
CLASSIFICATION SECRET/SECURITY INFO
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION 'REPORT
COUNTRY ? USSR
, SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
The Volga-Don State River Shipping
Company of the Central Directorate
of Southern Basins of-the River
Fleet'
DATE OF INFORMATION
TNIS DOCUMINT CONTAINS I ION APPICTINO INK NATIONAL tClNlt
Of TNI UNITIO BBBBBBB WITHIN TN' M(ANINS OP TITLI II, ItOTIONI 713
ANO 704, OP TNI U.S. OODI, Al *MINIM. ITS TOANIMIIIION OR IOWA.
LATION OP ITS {ORRIN'S TO ON NIOIIPT OR Al UNAUTIONIIII PINION IS
PIONIIITIO SY LAW. IRO RtPRODUCTION OP TWII ?ORM II PION1117/0,
DATE DISTR. 3 Sep 1953
50X1
NO, OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
50X1
1, The Volga-Doh Shipping Company was organized to transport cargo in the Don River
Basin, At first this shipping company was called simply the Don State River
Shipping Company, In about 1936, in connection with construction of the Volga-Don
Canal then being commenced? the shipping company was renamed the Volga-Don
State Shipping Company.
2, It should be kept in mind that the Soviet Government carried on work on the Volga'
Don Navigable Canal long before World War II and only the threat of the approach-
ing war made imperative postponement of construction in about 1940.
34 work on the Canal was resumed in 19470
Soviet official sources show that construction of the Volga-Don Navigable Canal
50X1 was resumed in 1948, which can be confirmed, for example, in an article by Zvonkov?
river transport specialist and corresponaing member of the USSR Academy of Sciences
entitled "New Transport Communications" Clioviye Transportniye Sviazi") appearing
on page 133 in the book, "Great Construction of the Stalinist Epoch" (Velikiye
Scoruzbeniye Stalinskoi Epokhi"), The book was published in 1951 by the "Mblodaya
Gvardiva" Publishing Company. In spite of the fact that work on the Volga-Don
Canal was postponed, the name of the shipping company, Volga-Don State River
50X1 Shipping Company, was not changed0 there was
no need for changing this name since the canal would eventually be completed
anyway,
40 The Directorate of the Volga-Don State River Shipping Company before World War II
was located in Rostov-on-the-Don at the beginning of Prospekt imeni Budyonnovo
(not far from the bridge across the Don), Activity of-the shipping company prior
to the opening of the Volga-Don Navigable canal was confined to the Don River
basin and particularly to the Don itself from Rostov to the vicinity of Lebiadan,
a little north of Voronezh.
50 In 1951 about 80 self-propelled vessels (tugs and passenger ships) and about 120
non-self-propelled barges were in use by the shipping company, For that year, the
volume of cargo hauled by the shipping company was to be about 6-6.5 million
CLASSIFICATION SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
DISTRIBUTION
ORR EV
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/04/17 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000300340001-9
Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 50-Yr2013/04/17:CIA-RDP82-00047R000300340001-9
,uni F
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
-2 -
50X1
tons After the canal was put into use, the volume of shipments rose sharply.
This was noted in a USSR Council of Ministers regulation dated 10 Jun 52. This
regulation indicated that completion of the Volga-Don Navigable Canal made it
possible to connect the White, Baltic, and Caspian Seas with the Black Sea and the
Sea of Azov, creating a single water transport system and making it possible in
1952 to begin shipping in volume.
6. The main cargoes shipped by the Volga-Don Shipping Company are: coal, timber, cement,
and grain, Unquestionably the volume of shipments of these cargoes, and particularly
timber, grew significantly with the opening of the Volga-Don canal,
70 The fact that the name, "Volga-Don River Shipping Company" existed before the opening
of the Volga-Don Navigable Canal can be easily confirmed, for example, in the Soviet
papers "Pravda" and "Izvestiya" for April or May 1952 where all the organizations
of the Ministry of the River Fleet published vows to Stalin on fulfilling production
plans ahead of schedule in 1952, Mention of the Volga-Don Shipping Company can also
be encountered in newspapers of 1951, 1950, and other years. Thus, the fact that the
Volga-Don State River Shipping Company existed prior to the opening of the Volga-Don
Navigable Canal is not a figment of my imagination but was established by the Soviet
Government itself and is confirmed in the Soviet press?
- end -
50X1
50X1
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/04/17 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000300340001-9