760D.61/1252: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:44 p.m.]
264. The French Chargé d’Affaires91 called to see me this morning and told me in the strictest confidence that he had received instructions from his Government to endeavor to make contact with Ryti in Moscow and to invite his attention to a recent offer by Daladier [Page 307] to the Finnish Minister in Paris,92 the substance of which was that if the Finns would continue the war with the Soviets and not make peace Great Britain and France would furnish Finland with all of the assistance that was necessary to maintain a successful defense including troops as well as planes, cannons and munitions. I asked the Chargé whether it was his understanding that this means that the British and French were prepared to send an expeditionary force of regular troops to Finland. He said he assumed it must mean this as it was obvious that the Finns could not defend themselves indefinitely without a substantial contingent of foreign troops and that it was his understanding that the offer had been unconditional and contemplated such assistance as might be needed to maintain the Finnish defense successfully. The Chargé d’Affaires stated that he was in quite a quandary as to how to make contact with Ryti as he said that he assumed the Soviet authorities would not disclose his whereabouts or permit him to have access to Ryti.