The Soviet Government Procurement Commission in the United States (''Советская Правительственная Закупочная Комиссия''), also known as the Soviet Commission for Procurement (''Советская закупочная комиссия''), was appointed on February 24, 1942 by the

Council of People's Commissars of the USSR The Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union was the highest collegial body of executive and administrative authority of the Soviet Union from 1923 to 1946. As the government of the Soviet Union, the Council of People's Commissars of th ...

, a Soviet government administration body to implement the provisions of the American Act of Supply during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

of military equipment to 11 countries, including from the U.S. to the USSR based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

History

Until the commission was established, the delivery of American military equipment to the USSR was carried out via the Soviet

Amtorg Amtorg Trading Corporation, also known as Amtorg (short for ''Amerikanskaya Torgovlya'', russian: Амторг), was the first trade representation of the Soviet Union in the United States, established in New York in 1924 by merging Armand Hammer ...

trading company based in New York. After the Commission was established in Washington, it organizationally consisted of 18 branch offices and a number of delegations, e.g. in New York at 210 Madison Ave. (at Amtorg's headquarters),

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

at 233 Southwest Sixt Ave.,organizational chart
/ref> Tacoma, Fairbanks,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

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Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Deliveries to the Soviet Arctic region were coordinated by the Arctic Group (''Арктическая группа''). A number of representatives of economic organizations functioned at the commission, including

Dalstroy Dalstroy (russian: Дальстро́й, ), also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Russian Far East, including the Magadan Region, Chukotka, ...

(''Дальстрой''), Norilskstroy (''Норильстрой''), the

Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route The Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (russian: Главное Управление Северного Морского Пути , translit=Glavnoe upravlenie Severnogo morskogo puti), also known as Glavsevmorput or GUSMP (russian: ГУ� ...

(''Главсевморпут''), the Soviet

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

, and a number of ministries, including maritime transport and the fishing industry. In the second half of 1942, the Management Board of the Commission Plenipotentiaries for the West Coast of the US and Canada was appointed (''Управление уполномоченных ПЗК по порадного побережья США и Канады''). It employed about 1,000 people, including citizens of U.S. Deliveries ended on September 20, 1945, the commission was liquidated on December 28, 1948.

Chairmans

* 1942-1943 - gen. Alexander Belyaev (1900–1963) * 1943-1946 - gen. Leonid Rudenko (1906–2002) * 1946-1948 - Ivan Eremin (1902-1963)

H.O.

The Commission was located in Washington, DC, in a 1939 residential home at 3355 Sixteenth Street, and at 1610 Park Road.

Bibliography

Н. Бутенина: Нефтепродуктовый Ленд-Лиз

А.Ю. Комарков: Ленд-Лиз для СССР в первый год великой Отечественной: Особенности, Проблемы, Итоги

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soviet Government Purchasing Commission in the U.S. Economic history of Russia Soviet Union–United States relations Soviet intelligence agencies Foreign trade of the Soviet Union Soviet Union in World War II