File No. 861.00/2168
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Sweden (Morris)
904. Your 2372, June 29, noon, received. Department well informed regarding Czecho-Slovak troops. Fifteen thousand already at Vladivostok en route to France now contemplating turning back to aid comrades in western Siberia whose progress obstructed by armed prisoners of war. Groups totaling altogether about 40,000 occupying points on railway Syzran to Irkutsk. Reported that Russians have taken advantage of their presence to eject local Soviets and set up provisional government western Siberia. Czecho-Slovaks determined to fight Central powers but unwilling to take arms against fellow Slavs except in self-defense. Masaryk, head of Czecho-Slovak committee, who organized these forces and arranged transportation out of Russia, now here in touch with the Department.