760D.61/1397: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received 12:43 p.m.]
200. In reply to inquiry, Minister for Foreign Affairs informed me this morning that fortification and garrison established in the Åland Islands during and previous to recent hostilities with Soviet Russia were being maintained by virtue of article VII of the Geneva Convention of 1921,24 but without raising the issue with the signatories. In view of probability that the Russians would be given facilities for setting up a base on the Estonian Island of Osmussaar opposite Hango, the Minister did not anticipate that the Russians would raise objection to such maintenance unless it should turn out that they had designs against Sweden of which there were no signs at present. In response to intimation as to the possibility of increased German interest in the Åland group,25 the Minister was noncommittal.