857h.01/64
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Bérenger)
Excellency: I have the honor to refer to your predecessor’s notes of July 13, August 17, and October 5, 192530 and to Count de Sartiges’ note of January 7, 1926, regarding the proposed adhesion by Russia to the Treaty signed at Paris February 9, 1920, relating to Spitsbergen.
The Department has given most careful consideration to this question, particularly in connection with the provisions of the first paragraph of Article 10 of the Treaty, which reads as follows:
“Until the recognition by the High Contracting Parties of a Russian Government shall permit Russia to adhere to the present Treaty, Russian nationals and companies shall enjoy the same rights as nationals of the High Contracting Parties.”
The above-quoted paragraph clearly accords to Russian nationals and companies the same rights as nationals of the High Contracting Parties, such preferential treatment to be enjoyed by them until the recognition of a Russian Government shall permit Russia to adhere to the Treaty.
As Your Excellency’s Government is aware, the Government of the United States has not recognized the regime now functioning in Russia, and in these circumstances the Government of the United States regrets that it cannot see its way, in view of the express terms of the Treaty, to consent to the adherence thereto by the regime now functioning in Russia.
Moreover, since the rights of Russian nationals and companies in Spitsbergen are expressly safeguarded under the provisions of the present Treaty, the Government of the United States fails to find that it is necessary or desirable to consider at this time the modification of the existing Treaty with a view to permitting the adherence thereto by the regime now functioning in Russia.
Accept [etc.]
- Note of October 5 not printed.↩