Office of the Historian

760I.61/168: Telegram

The Minister in Estonia (Wiley) to the Secretary of State

Tallinn, June 3, 1940—6 p.m.
[Received June 3—2:40 p.m.]

57. The source mentioned in my telegram 45 of March 30,11 has informed me that General Loktionov12 (see paragraph No. 4 of the same) arrives today by air. The visit has been foreseen for some time and it is believed that only technical matters will be discussed. Though he has been taken aback by recent Pravda attack on Estonia13 (see telegram No. 55)14 and much concerned by Soviet-Lithuanian developments, he can only describe Estonian relations with the Soviet Union as having so far followed a most satisfactory course. Negotiations have gone smoothly and in return for Estonian concessions, [Page 365] including use of the island of Osmussaar, the Soviet Air Force has given up the two fields nearest Tallinn and the Red Army is evacuating Haapsalu. The thorny question of payments arising out of mutual assistance pact with Russia15 had also been substantially settled. Moreover, a protocol providing for Soviet armaments for the Estonian Army which was concluded some time ago is working smoothly. The first Soviet delivery took place May 1st and the second will follow within a few days.

Informant denied that Russian troops were being moved westward. On the contrary, the movement was towards the Black Sea area. The best Soviet pilots in Estonia, veterans of the Finnish war, were being sent there, as well as some of the planes based here. He said talk of a reversal of Soviet policy towards Germany was nonsense.16

He added that anti-German sentiment in Estonia was preoccupying the authorities. Crew members of German vessels had been assaulted and there was constant danger of incidents with the large number of Germans who were constantly traveling mysteriously around the Baltic States.

Wiley
  1. Not printed; the source mentioned was “G–2”Maj. George B. Huthsteiner, American Military Attaché in Latvia and Estonia.↩
  2. Col. Gen. of Aviation Alexander Dmitriyevich Loktionov, People’s Assistant Commissar for Defence of the Soviet Union.↩
  3. In issue of May 28,1940, entitled “Political Sentiments in Estonia.”↩
  4. May 31, 3 p.m., not printed.↩
  5. Signed at Moscow on September 28, 1939. A translation of the text of this treaty is printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 11, 1939, p. 543; also in League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cxcviii, p. 227.↩
  6. For correspondence on wartime cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union, see pp. 539 ff.↩