File No. 861.00/988

The Ambassador in France (Sharp) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

3074. Following joint telegram dated Jassy, January 18, received from the Ministers of the United States, Italy, England, and France:

Yesterday morning we received a visit from the delegates of the Ukraine, Messrs. Galip, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Galicinski, the Director of Finance. From the rather vague statement made to us by Mr. Galicinski, we gathered following:

(1)
That on account of the state of public opinion the Ukraine does not consider itself bound to recognize the treaties concluded under the régime of the Tsar;
(2)
That having no army she is unable to continue the war and that as regards the Brest Litovsk conference, the desire for peace is so widespread among the Ukrainian population that the government of the Rada would be unable to withstand this current, especially if the Bolsheviks manage to conclude peace with the Austro-Germans;
(3)
That the Ukrainian government is apparently engaged in recruiting troops of which the greater number will be by voluntary enlistment for maintaining order in the interior as well as for fighting against the Bolsheviks and incidentally for guaranteeing the independence of the country against foreigners;
(4)
That the Ukraine has no intention of allowing any interference in its internal affairs on the part of other states of Russia, as for her part she undertakes to respect scrupulously the independence of these states (nevertheless Mr. Galip added that his country does not exclude the possibility of a federal union between her and the other parts of Russia and that he had even tried to get into communication with the union of south Russia and with Bessarabia, but we ourselves have gathered the impression that the federalist tendency had rather weakened in Ukraine lately);
(5)
That as a result of her internal condition and of her relations with the other states of Russia as well as with foreign powers, the economic and financial situation of the Ukraine is particularly serious.

As a result of what preceded Mr. Galip has formulated the following demands:

(1)
Recognition of the independence of Ukraine by the great powers of the Entente and nomination of the Allied diplomatic representatives at Kiev;
(2)
Financial support to the Ukrainian government;
(3)
Facilities on the part of the Entente for supplying the Ukraine with manufacturing products.

In the course of conversation Mr. Galip admitted that the military situation would change completely if there were Allied forces in Russia, if the Allied powers were masters of the communications with Vladivostok, and if agreements could be concluded with Turkey and Bulgaria, whose representatives at Brest Litovsk had apparently made advances to the Ukrainian delegates and shown a certain resentment against Germany and Austria-Hungary.

We informed the delegates that we would reserve our reply pending a discussion. Consequently this morning we called upon them and stated:

(1)
That in the first place, the Allied powers must ask the Ukraine, even if it could not carry on the war financially, to give at least an undertaking that it would conclude no separate peace (we called the attention of the delegates to the fact that this engagement was already implicitly contained in the note that its government addressed, when assuming power, to the Allied Ambassadors at Petrograd and in which it was stated that the Ukraine did not intend making a separate peace but only participating in a general peace in full agreement with the Allied powers);
(2)
That the Ukrainian government should at the same time undertake to enter into no degrading relations with our enemies;
(3)
That the Ukrainian authorities should organize with the assistance of the Allied military mission an armed force that would be sufficient to assure not only order in the interior but also to render the country independent of an attack from outside;
(4)
That the Ukrainian government should enter into relations with the other Russian autonomous states as well as with Rumania so as to present a solid front to the Central Empires who are the natural adversaries of the principles of nationalities as has again been confirmed by the Brest Litovsk negotiations;
(5)
That the Ukrainian government should undertake to facilitate the revictualing of Rumania and to take to this end the means for assuring the regular service of the railways in conjunction with the measures that the Bessarabian government is now adopting for this purpose with the assistance of the Rumanian Government.

At the same time we considered it our duty not to let pass unprotested Mr. Galip’s statement regarding treaties concluded under the Tsar’s régime. We remarked in this respect that the powers entered into the war not for a cause which interested the Tsar and his government but at the request of Russia for the cause of a small Slavonic people which the Central Empires wished to crush; that the war provoked by the Germanic powers had therefore been carried on by the Allied powers to defend the principles of nationalities in accordance with sentiments manifested at all times by the Russian people. Consequently the Allied powers had treated through the mediation of the Imperial Government with entire Russia and the fundamental principles of the treaties of alliance ought to be accepted and recognized by all the states of Russia and especially the Ukraine.

We finally decided that the attitude of the great Allied powers towards the Ukraine from the point of view of recognizing her independence, her financial help, and military collaboration was dependent on the reply which we received on the above five points. The French Minister added that he was already authorized to acknowledge the independence of Ukraine and that he was ready to do so immediately on receipt of a satisfactory answer from the delegates. Mr. Galip having informed us that he had not the necessary powers to understand [undertake] the engagements we asked of him but that he would refer by telegram to the Rada, we decided to have another interview with the Ukrainian delegates as soon as the reply reached them.

The language of the Ukrainian delegates agrees with the information received from the Allied agents at Kiev showing that the Entente can at present expect no effective help from the Ukraine. All that we can ask of her is to gain time to allow the Allied powers to act for the improvement of the general situation on this front. We again expressed the opinion that the only means of attaining [Page 663] this and consequently of deciding the attitude of the Ukraine in a manner conformable with the interests of our cause is to send to Russia international [force] under the conditions we have indicated. It is well to note that this impression is shared by the Rumanian Government which has also had interviews with the delegates of the Ukrainian government.

Sharp