760N.61/67: Telegram
The Minister in Estonia (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 15—7 a.m.]
18. My telegram No. 16, February 13, 5 p.m. In respect of press reports which have been current that the Soviet Union is formulating new and far-reaching political demands on the Baltic States, Ambassador Steinhardt and I have reached the conclusion from conversations with Foreign Ministers of Latvia and Estonia and with General Laidoner that no such demands have thus far been presented and that they consider it most unlikely there will be any change in their situation for the present.99
General Laidoner does not, however, dismiss the possibility that the Soviet Union may endeavor to have the Baltic States exercise united pressure on Finland should the Soviet Union subsequently seek to terminate hostilities.
- The Chargé in Lithuania, Bernard Gufler, reported in his despatch No. 769 (Diplomatic), March 21, 1940, that in a conversation with Ludwigs Seja, the Latvian Minister, the latter had stated that the Soviet Union had been demanding admission of nonmilitary auxiliary personnel, and wives and children of Soviet officers (760N.61/70).↩