311.6121 Gorin, M. N./16
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
The Soviet Chargé d’Affaires called this afternon to discuss, inter alia, the arrest of Gorin, the head of the Intourist in Los Angeles. He said that he was, much perturbed over this case, which he feared was bound to have unfortunate publicity. He did not know Gorin personally, but he wanted to make certain observations to me. In the first place, no Soviet official was authorized to do anything inimical to the American armed forces as in the Soviet view these were an element of peace. Should it be that Gorin had violated these instructions, he would be severely punished on his return by the Soviet authorities. Of course there were many people, not to say countries, trying to create discord between the United States and the U. S. S. R. He could not dismiss the possibility that Gorin had been the victim of an agent provocateur. In any event, he could well imagine the tertius gaudens who was watching every sensational development in the case.
I replied that I welcomed the assurances that Mr. Oumansky had given to me with regard to the Soviet official attitude, and that only the evidence would show whether Mr. Gorin had in fact been living up to the high standard of conduct in a friendly country which was imposed on him by his superiors.
Mr. Oumansky then made some observations on the difficulty of obtaining official information on this case, but later asked that I take no action for the present on his complaints until he had had a further talk with the Vice Consul he had sent out to Los Angeles from New York.