Who signed the 1945 Japanese surrender instrument for the Soviet Union?

Kuzma Derevyanko signed the 1945 Japanese surrender instrument for the Soviet Union. The Soviet lieutenant general added his signature at 9:16 a.m. during the ceremony aboard USS Missouri.

Derevyanko represented the Soviet Union after the Japanese signatories and Douglas MacArthur had signed. He was one of nine Allied representatives who followed MacArthur, with each signing for a separate Allied government.

His role is sometimes overshadowed by better-known Soviet commanders from the European war. The Soviet delegation’s participation was significant because the Soviet Union had entered the war against Japan only weeks earlier, launching an offensive in Manchuria on August 9, 1945.