File No. 861.00/2296
The Ambassador in Russia ( Francis) to the Secretary of State 1
[Received July 20, 12.50 a.m.]
[328.] Just received the following from Chicherin:
Urgent. Taking into consideration present situation and the possibility of danger for the Allied representatives the Soviet government looks upon Moscow as the town where the security of the mentioned representatives can be assured. Considering it to be its duty to safeguard the Ambassadors, the Soviet government sees in their coming to Moscow a question of necessity. We hope that the highly esteemed American Ambassador will appreciate this step in the friendly spirit in which it is undertaken. In order to execute this measure and to remove any difficulties the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs delegates to Vologda as its representative Citizen Radek.
Have sent following reply to above message:
Immediately on receiving your urgent message last midnight I called a meeting of the chiefs of Allied missions as their dean.
I am requested by them to ask you why you think our remaining in Vologda unsafe or inadvisable. We have no fear of the Russian people, whom we have always befriended and whom we consider our Allies, and we have full confidence in the population of Vologda. Our only anxiety is concerning the forces of the Central Empires with whom we are at war and in our judgment they are much more likely to capture Moscow than Vologda. We realize that in a country suffering as Russia is at present there are unreasonable and desperate men, but we are confident that they are not more dangerous at Vologda than elsewhere.
At Moscow, on the other hand, we hear that the Germans have already received permission to introduce their troops to safeguard their representatives, and in any case the town is directly threatened by the Germans.
[Page 619]If you mean by your message that the government of Soviets have taken, without consulting the Allied missions, the decision that the latter should come to Moscow and that you are sending Mr. Kadek to carry such a decision into execution, we desire to inform you that we consider that would be offensive to us, and we would not comply therewith.
Given to press.
- Sent via Murmansk and the Embassy in Great Britain.↩