ukase

1. A decree or edict.
2. A proclamation issued by a czar in imperial Russia.

...Bush is right in framing his new policy as a ukase to Iraq's government: We are buying you time, and not much of it, for you to dash to competence concerning security matters. Bush's policy probably will not succeed, but at least we will know what were the parameters of the possible, given the government produced by those Iraqi elections that once were the source of so much U.S. confidence. (George Will)

This word is Russian in origin.