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

761.6211/237: Telegram

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

Moscow, October 5, 1939—3 p.m.
[Received October 5—12:23 p.m.]

686. Although not yet publicly announced I am reliably informed that yesterday the German Ambassador³⁵ and Molotov signed the supplementary protocol provided for in article I of the Soviet-German treaty of September 28.³⁶ In addition to providing for the creation of a mixed commission to arrange the details of the Soviet-German frontiers in Poland I understand the protocol also established “Soviet and German spheres of interest”. I have been unable as yet to ascertain where these “spheres of interest” are located, but they may well refer to the Baltic and Balkan areas.

Repeated to Riga.

Steinhardt

35. Friedrich Werner, Count von der Schulenburg.
36. Signed at Moscow on October 4, 1939; for text, see Department of State, Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945 (Washington, 1954), Series D, vol. viii, p. 208; or Martens, Recueit de traites, vol. cxxxiii, p. 641.