740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Eastern Locarno)/20: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Bullitt ) to the Secretary of State

243. Supplementing my 239,35 in the course of a conversation with me last night Lozoraitis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister, stated that he intended to act in concert with Litvinov to the fullest possible extent in attempting to bring about the Eastern Locarno.

[Page 508]

He expressed the opinion that Poland would be compelled to accept in principle but would make every possible difficulty when details had to be discussed.

Lozoraitis denied vehemently that the information with regard to Lithuanian-Polish relations, (reported on the authority of the Latvian Minister in my number 22636) was up to date. He stated that he had had discussions [with] Colonel Prystor37 and more recently with another Polish representative, that until the eve of his coming to Moscow he had been most hopeful of reaching some sort of an agreement with Poland, that the Poles were profuse in professions of friendship but that every concrete proposition made to him was one which involved a greater or lesser infringement of the sovereignty of Lithuania. He stated that he had replied finally just before coming to Moscow that Lithuania would not consider for an instant federation with Poland in return for the attachment of Vilna and the surrounding district to the Lithuanian state and would not consider agreeing that the Lithuanian army should cooperate with the Polish army in case of war. He added that the negotiations had been broken off definitely but that he hoped later to be able to come to some agreement with regard to purely economic matters.

Lozoraitis said that he would base his policy in the future on the closest possible cooperation with the Soviet Union and that so long as he was sure of Soviet friendship he believed that Lithuania would be immune from German or Polish hostility. He added that on his return to Kaunas he intended to resume at once his negotiations with Estonia and Latvia for the establishment of a common front in all political negotiations. These statements of Lozoraitis were confirmed fully by Baltrusaitis, the Lithuanian Minister to Moscow with whom I have intimate relations.

Bullitt
  1. Dated August 3, 2 p.m.; Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, section on 1934.
  2. Dated July 30, noon, p. 506.
  3. Aleksander Prystor, member of the Polish Diet and former Prime Minister.