760d.61/407: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 4—11:18 a.m.]
863. For the President, Secretary and Under Secretary. I have been informed that on November 2 the Swedish Minister having failed to obtain an appointment with Molotov left a note at the [Page 993] Foreign Office dealing with the Soviet-Finnish negotiations. At about 5 o’clock in the afternoon Molotov sent for the Swedish Minister and handed back the note with the statement that the Soviet-Finnish negotiations were not a matter of concern to Sweden. Obvously, therefore, the outburst against Sweden and the Swedish Foreign Minister, contained in the editorial in Pravda (see my telegram No. 856, November 3, 3 p.m.), was provoked by these renewed Swedish representations.