761.93 Manchuria/143: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 2—5:02 p.m.]
219. My 217, August 2, 8 a.m.
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I understand that the messages received by the Japanese Ambassador yesterday (see my 215, August 1, 2 p.m.) instructed him to protest in person to Litvinov against the violation of Manchurian territory by Soviet troops and to resume discussion on the general controversy; that the Japanese Ambassador considered it inadvisable for him to approach Litvinov personally at the present time and sent instead a secretary of the Embassy to deliver the protest to an official of the Foreign Office. The Soviet official, however, is said to have declined to discuss the matter with the Japanese representative stating that the matter was too serious to be discussed between subordinates.