761.94/763: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6 p.m.]
202. Litvinov said to me today that relations between the Soviet Union and Japan were continuing to improve. He said that he had no fear whatever of a Japanese attack in the near future and that negotiations with regard to the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway were proceeding more favorably and amicably than in the past. He said [Page 224] that the difference in the price asked by the Soviet Union and the price offered by Government of “Manchukuo” had now been reduced to a comparatively small sum and that he expected a successful issue of the negotiations although conclusion of the matter might take months as the Japanese were both hard and slow bargainers. He added that in spite of the temporary improvement in relations he felt that an eventual attack by Japan on the Soviet Union was inevitable.