NOTE FROM TROTSKY TO THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT ON THE WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS FROM PERSIA 4 January 1918 Trotsky, III, 2, p. 251     I have received a note from the Persian Charge d'Affaires in Petrograd which runs: 'I consider it my duty herewith to bring to your notice that the Persian Government, being duly informed of the contents of article IS! of the Armistice agreement concluded at Brest on ~ [I5] December, the text of which is given above, has authorized me to enter into negotiations for the withdrawal of troops from Persia with the appropriate Russian body authorized to conduct such negotiations, and that, according to a dispatch from the Teheran Government received by the Persian Embassy in Petrograd, identical instructions were sent at the same time to the Persian Ambassador in Constantinople to open negotiations on the withdrawal by the Turkish Government of Turkish troops from Persian territory. In communicating the above, the undersigned begs to be informed as soon as possible of the day and hour when negotiations for the evacuation of Russian forces from Persia can be opened....'     In regard to this matter I suggest that it is necessary: 1. To work out a general plan for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Persia in the shortest possible time, and to propose to Turkey, both through the Persian Government and directly through the Turkish delegation at Brest-Litovsk, to co-ordinate their plan for the evacuation of Turkish troops with the Russian plan. 2. To begin immediately the withdrawal of those detachments whose presence in Persia serves no military purpose, and which were used to occupy Persian territory. 3. To recall from Persia the Russian military mission, acting in the capacity of instructors of the Cossack brigade. 4. To appoint commissars immediately to the Russian authorities in Persia, for the purpose of explaining to the various detachments in Persia the general political situation in Russia and the meaning of our new foreign policy, which is based on respect for the rights of all peoples, regardless of their strength or weakness. These commissars to take measures to protect the Persian population from any affront or violence on the part of the less conscious elements of the army. 5. To take steps to secure the provisioning of the Russian army while they remain in Persia, laying as light a burden as possible on the poorer sections of the Persian population.     I should be glad if you would inform me with the least possible delay of the practical steps you consider it possible to take in the direction indicated.     The greatest speed is necessary in this matter in order to wipe out as quickly as possible the effects of the acts of violence perpetrated by Tsarism and bourgeois Russian Governments against the Persian people. Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy [Subject] [Author] [Date]