661.1115/33: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Great Britain (Wright)
306. Your no. 493, March 23, 1 p.m. The American Government considers it extraordinary that it should be considered by the Soviet authorities necessary to send to London a member of such importance in its Government as Krassin92 if, as is stated in the British note of March 20, the delegation sent by the cooperatives to London is only intended to make arrangements as to the method of exchanging such commodities, etc.
It is the conclusion of the Department that at present Soviet Russia has no raw materials available for export. This conclusion is based on information derived from various sources. I shall be glad to be kept informed as to the course of these negotiations.
It is not clear from your telegram whether the restrictions upon private trading with Soviet Russia have been abolished. You state in one place that except for munitions the blockade of the Baltic, North Russia, and the Pacific has been raised. You state in another place that with the exception mentioned, the British Government is ready to lift the embargo on private trade.
Our information is to the effect that British traders are making contracts already or at least laying the foundations for trading with Soviet Russia.
[Page 707]If the British Government has already removed restrictions on private trade we would like to know why this information has not been given to the Department.
The meaning of the Department’s memorandum regarding the dispersion of Rumanian gold, etc., has been fully explained to you in Department’s no. 300, March 22, 6 p.m.
- L. B. Krassin was the Soviet Commissar for Trade and Industry.↩