740.0011 European War 1939/4000: Telegram
The Minister in Latvia (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:05 p.m.]
133. Vyshinski,46 Vice Chairman of Sovnarkom, arrived yesterday. Last evening he visited President Ulmanis and presumably is here to set up a new government.
The Riga press yesterday announced that the behaviour of the population had made a bad impression on the Soviet troops and that the Red Command had requested the Latvian authorities to prevent further obstruction of their troop movements. This morning the Soviet Legation denies that any such request was made. The Red Command, the Legation states, was perfectly satisfied with the cordial welcome and greetings of the populace.
An official announcement forbids the circulation of rubles and the bank moratorium continues.
Conjectures regarding the future are pessimistic. It is possible that the new governments of the Baltic States will be so constituted that Anschluss with the U. S. S. R. can be voted in due course in an endeavor to forestall any Hitlerian “new order” in Eastern Europe.
It might be well for the Department to foresee the possibility that the Soviet authorities might shortly assume charge of the diplomatic and consular representation of the Baltic States. (See Legation’s 278 of October 23, 2 p.m., 1939.)47 In such an event our entire establishment here might have to be liquidated on fairly short notice unless the Embassy in Moscow could obtain a special dispensation for the maintenance of a Consulate.
Soviet tanks and mechanized forces are here in much more substantial numbers than was first apparent. It is evident that the Foreign Minister was wrong when he recently assured me that Soviet military interest in Latvia was limited to that of an “advance post” only.
An efficient looking Soviet destroyer and a gunboat are moored alongside the President’s Palace.
The city and as far as I know the countryside are quiet.