In January 1944 Kruglov and Vsevolod Merkulov prepared an NKVD report on the Katyn massacre which blamed the massacre on the Germans. The NKVD report was used later in 1944 as a basis by the "Special Commission for Determination and Investigation of the Shooting of Polish Prisoners of War by German-Fascist Invaders in Katyn Forest" (also known as the Burdenko Commission), which reached the same pre-determined conclusions.