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  4. Document 740

894.00/576: Telegram

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

Moscow, February 27, 1936—7 p.m.
[Received February 27—3 p.m.]

71. Stomoniakoff, Assistant Commissar for Foreign Affairs in charge of Far Eastern Affairs, stated to me this evening that he [Page 726] had just received telegrams from Tokyo reporting the following facts:

1.
The mutinous officers supported by soldiers of the 3rd and 6th Regiments of the First Division are still occupying the War Ministry and police headquarters but have announced that they are ready to surrender under certain conditions.
2.
The entire Government spent the night in the Imperial Palace afraid to leave.
3.
Goto, after being appointed Prime Minister ad interim and re-signing, was again appointed Prime Minister ad interim.
4.
The Soviet Ambassador in Tokyo believes that the Emperor is weakening in his opposition to the militarists and that it is possible that a general will be appointed Prime Minister.

Stomoniakoff said that in his opinion the general would be either Araki or Masaki. He added that he feared that appointment of Masaki would produce the gravest consequences. He alleged that the Soviet Government had information which indicated that Masaki might be behind the present mutiny and said that the Soviet Government considers him the most dangerous of all Japanese militarists.

Stomoniakoff also said that he considered the summoning of Prince Chichibu27 to Tokyo an ominous sign and alleged that Chichibu was more friendly to the Japanese militarists than any other member of the Imperial Family.

In commenting on the whole situation Stomoniakoff said that he expected an immediate brutal advance of the Japanese Army against China. He said that he would not be surprised if there should be a similar advance against Outer Mongolia but that he considered an advance against the Chinese more likely because it would meet with less resistance than an advance against the Mongolians and would give the militarists an easy victory to display to the Japanese populace.

Stomoniakoff added that he did not anticipate any attack under any circumstances by Japan on the territory of the Soviet Union until the Japanese had made considerable further advances in North China and Outer Mongolia.

Bullitt
  1. Younger brother of Emperor Hirohito.↩