Which Soviet general signed Japan’s surrender document at the 1945 ceremony?

Kuzma Derevyanko signed Japan’s surrender document for the Soviet Union at the 1945 ceremony.

Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko represented the Soviet Union aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. He signed after Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and before representatives of several other Allied countries completed the document.

The Soviet Union had declared war on Japan on August 8, 1945, and Soviet forces invaded Japanese-held territory in Manchuria the following day. This offensive rapidly changed the strategic situation in northeast Asia and contributed to the pressure on Japan’s leaders to accept surrender.

Derevyanko is sometimes confused with Marshal Georgy Zhukov, one of the Soviet Union’s best-known commanders. Zhukov did not sign Japan’s surrender document. Derevyanko’s role was specifically as the Soviet representative at the Tokyo Bay ceremony.