661.6231/197: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 20—2:55 p.m.]
126. My telegram No. 87, February 27, 3 p.m.67 A member of the German Embassy here stated that the Soviet proposals, in regard to the raw materials which could be furnished under the proposed Soviet-German economic accord, as reported in my telegram under reference, are still being considered in Berlin and that the negotiations for the conclusion of this accord might be characterized as “lingering”. The same informant again emphasized that since the negotiations on this subject have no special political significance the delay which has been encountered is not the result of any political considerations and is believed to be due to the technical-economic aspects of the matter involving the amount of raw materials which could be obtained from the Soviet Union. The opinion was offered, however, that new factors may have been injected into the consideration of the German-Soviet commercial accord as a result of the economic consequences of acquisition of Bohemia and Moravia.68
[For a report on basic considerations of Soviet foreign policy, and detection of a possible inclination on the part of the Soviet Union to reduce the amount of friction in relations with Germany, see telegram No. 169, April 6, 1939, from the Chargé in the Soviet Union, Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, page 750.]