Office of the Historian

660D.6131/39: Telegram

The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State

Helsinki, June 17, 1940—2 p.m.
[Received June 17—12:30 p.m.]

271. My telegram No. 260, June 12.31 Minister of Foreign Affairs informed me today that there is no truth in rumor recently circulated here that trade agreement negotiations with the Russians had broken down.32 On the contrary he said they were nearly completed and as previously reported would be substantially on a clearing basis. Among other things Finnish shipyards would build large number of small ships for river and harbor use for the Russians using steel to [Page 331] be obtained if possible from Czechoslovakia and from the United States. The negotiations with the Germans were also making good progress and the German negotiators were showing very considerate spirit.

Schoenfeld
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. A Finnish trade delegation had arrived in Moscow on May 25, 1940.↩