741.61/848: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 23—11:22 a.m.]
460. The French Ambassador stated to me this morning that notwithstanding the events of the past 2 or 3 days the principal responsibility [Page 307] for the delay and the apparent collapse of the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations must rest with Poland which has consistently refused to agree to accept Soviet military assistance under any circumstances. He said that most of the delay was occasioned by the efforts of London and Paris to induce Warsaw to agree to accept such assistance and that 2 weeks ago the Soviet Government had advised the British and French that unless Poland would agree to accept Soviet military assistance the conversations were purposeless.
The Ambassador added that in his interview with Molotov yesterday the latter had pointed out that a non-aggression pact with Germany was not inconsistent with a mutual defensive alliance between Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union but that such an alliance could not be accomplished as long as Poland persisted in refusing Soviet military assistance.
It is difficult to reconcile my information as to the terms of the proposed agreement with Germany (see my telegram No. 457, August 23, noon50) with almost any kind of Anglo-French-Soviet agreement under existing conditions and it would appear that even were the Poles now to acquiesce in the acceptance of Soviet military assistance such acquiescence would come too late to prevent a Soviet-German agreement.
- Not printed.↩