Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1939, General, Volume I

761.6211/215: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Steinhardt ) to the Secretary of State

Moscow , September 27, 1939—3 p.m.
[Received September 27—8:05 a.m.]

624. The press today publishes a communiqué issued last night concerning the impending visit of Ribbentrop²⁸ which reads as follows:

“On the invitation of the Government of the U. S. S. R., the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Von Ribbentrop, is arriving in Moscow on September 27 to discuss with the Government of the U. S. S. R. questions in connection with the events in Poland.”

The press reports in a Tass²⁹ despatch from Berlin that on September 24 the instruments of ratification of the Soviet-German Non-aggression Pact were exchanged between the Soviet Ambassador and the State Secretary of the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs followed by an exchange of friendly speeches.

Steinhardt

28. Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister. For the preliminaries leading up to the second visit of the German Foreign Minister to Moscow, see Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1989–1941, pp. 86 ff. passim.
29. Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union, an official communication agency of the Soviet Government.