861.77/4418
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 29.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Embassy’s despatch No. 371, of March 16, 1940,27 transmitting the text of the treaty of peace between the Soviet Union and Finland which was concluded on March 12, 1940, and to inform the Department that the Moscow press of May 3 published a brief Tass despatch from Kandalaksha which reported that the construction of the 160 kilometer railway between Kandalaksha and Kuolajarvi was completed on April 30, thus connecting Kuolajarvi with the Murmansk railway line.
The construction of this line is in accordance with Article 7 of the peace treaty referred to, by which the two countries agreed that each would construct, “if possible during 1940, on its own territory a railway uniting the city of Kandalaksha with the city of Kemijärvi”.28 The section mentioned in the Tass news item represents, of course, the Soviet portion of the line.29 The rapidity with which this section is stated to have been completed leads to the inference that the construction may be only temporary in character, particularly when climatic conditions in the region, which is north of the Arctic Circle, are taken into account.
Respectfully yours,
[An option was afforded Finland to postpone payments on its debts to the United States by Public Resolution No. 84, approved on June 15, 1940 (54 Stat. 398). Finland was informed of this action in a note of June 22, 1940, from Secretary of State Hull to the Finnish Minister, Hjalmar J. Procopé. The option was accepted by Finland for the payments due on December 15, 1940, in a note of November [Page 330] 20, 1940, from the Finnish Minister to the Secretary of State. The texts of these documents are printed in Department of State Bulletin, December 7, 1940, pages 501–503.]
- Not printed.↩
- The Soviet explanation of the economic purpose of this railroad construction was that it would provide transit through Finland linking Murmansk and other northern Soviet towns by the shortest route with the Baltic ports and with Sweden, and would provide an outlet for Russian goods on the Atlantic. According to Izvestiya, March 24, 1940, apatite from the Kola Peninsula, the most important Soviet export to Sweden, would go by this route.↩
- The Minister in Finland stated in his telegram No. 215, May 3, 4 p.m., that the Minister for Foreign Affairs declared that the Finnish section of the line from the Soviet terminus to Kemijärvi “would be proceeded with as provided in the peace treaty with the Soviet Union, which had undertaken to provide the steel rail and that the work on the Finnish portion would cost Finland about 100,000,000 marks.” (740.0011 European War 1939/2628)↩