760d.61/485: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 27—1:25 p.m.]
943. Embassy’s telegram No. 942, November 27, noon.79 Pravda, a copy of which the Embassy was able to obtain only at 1 o’clock, publishes the text of the Soviet note handed to the Finnish Minister last night in the following manner:
“Note of the Soviet Government Pertaining to the Provocative Shelling of Soviet Troops by Finnish Military Units.
On the evening of November 26 the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union Comrade V. M. Molotov received the [Page 1000] Minister of Finland, Mr. Yrjö Koskinen and handed him the note from the Government of the Soviet Union pertaining to the provocative shelling of Soviet troops by Finnish military units concentrated on the Karelian Isthmus.
In accepting the note Mr. Yrjö Koskinen declared that he would immediately communicate with his Government and give a reply. The text of the note is set forth below.
‘Mr. Minister. According to a communication of the General Staff of the Red Army today the 26th of November at 3:45 p.m. our troops on the Karelian Isthmus at the Finnish frontier near the village of Mainila were unexpectedly shelled from Finnish territory. In all seven artillery shots were fired as a result of which three privates and one junior commander were killed and seven privates and two officers were wounded. The Soviet troops having strict orders not to respond to provocation refrained from returning the fire.
The Soviet Government, in informing you of this matter considers it necessary to emphasize that even at the time of the recent negotiations with Messrs. Tanner and Paasikivi it pointed out the danger created by the concentration of a large number of regular Finnish troops on the very border above Leningrad. In connection with the fact of the provocative first shelling of Soviet troops from Finnish territory, the Soviet Government is now obliged to state that the concentration of Finnish troops above Leningrad creates not only a threat to Leningrad but also presents in fact a hostile act against the Soviet Union which has already led to an attack against Soviet troops with casualties.
The Soviet Government does not intend to exaggerate this outrageous attack on the part of Finnish armed units, perhaps badly led by the Finnish command. But it would desire that such outrageous acts should not take place in the future.
Consequently, the Soviet Government, lodging a determined protest against what has taken place, proposes to the Finnish Government without delay to withdraw its troops to a distance of from 20 to 25 kilometers from the frontier on the Karelian Isthmus, and thereby to prevent the possibility of further provocations.
Accept Mr. Minister, etc. Signed People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov. November 26, 1939.’”
- Not printed.↩