Large folder format measuring 9 ¾" x 14", typed on the letterhead of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The letter bears the ink stamp of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, dated 12 May 1941, and is hand-signed by its chairman Mikhail Kalinin.

In very good to excellent condition, showing some wear to the corners which is made insignificant against the large size of the document. The paper is clean, the printed and typed text, stamp and Kalinin's signature are crisp and perfectly clear and legible.

This is a state document of enormous political and historical

Large folder format measuring 9 ¾" x 14", typed on the letterhead of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The letter bears the ink stamp of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, dated 12 May 1941, and is hand-signed by its chairman Mikhail Kalinin.

In very good to excellent condition, showing some wear to the corners which is made insignificant against the large size of the document. The paper is clean, the printed and typed text, stamp and Kalinin's signature are crisp and perfectly clear and legible.

This is a state document of enormous political and historical importance, especially on the verge of World War 2, extremely rare and hard, if at all possible, to find a similarly important item in private hands. A true gem for a serious collector of autographs or diplomatic memorabilia.

Sergey Vinogradov was the Soviet Ambassador to Turkey from September 1940 to February 1948. He shared the story of his visit to Stalin with another leading Soviet diplomat Yuri Dubinin. According to Vinogradov, In the fall of 1942, Stalin ordered him from Ankara to Moscow. He was driven by car to Stalin's "near dacha" where Stalin asked him twice whether Turkey would enter the war. Vinogradov twice answered in the negative. Stalin then told him to go back to Ankara, adding "but remember the responsibility you have taken upon yourself here today."

Born a peasant in 1875, Kalinin eventually became a metalworker in St. Petersburg and was very actively involved in pre-Revolutionary politics. From March 1919 to 1938 he was Chairman of the All-Russian, and then All-Union Executive Committee. The title was then changed to Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which he assumed and held until 1946 as the nominal Head of State. Kalinin was a candidate member of the Politburo from 1919 until 1925 when he became a full member. He remained a member of that uber-elite organ of the Communist Party until his retirement in 1946 and subsequent death almost immediately thereafter. As would be expected for a man whom generations of Young Pioneers had been taught to call "Grandpa", he was buried in the Necropolis behind Lenin's Tomb after one of the larger of Stalin-era state funerals.

During his lifetime, the ancient Russian city of Tver was renamed Kalinin in his honor and, after his death, the ancient Teutonic city of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad after him. His appearance was similar enough to Stalin's nemesis Trotsky that, perhaps, it was one of the reasons why Stalin kept Kalinin as his pet head of state through all the purges of the 1930s. Stalin did have a twisted sense of humor.
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