761.71/291: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:30 p.m.]
1182. Embassy’s 1174, 15th, and 1180, 16th.18 It is felt here that the acceptance by the Soviet Government of the Rumanian note delivered on September 13 and the mild tone of the published communiqué, reported in the Embassy’s telegram under reference, which selected for quotation and emphasis the more conciliatory parts of the Rumanian note, lends itself to the interpretation that the Soviet Government is for the moment at least inclined to play down the dispute with Rumania concerning alleged border incidents. The article which appeared in Krasny Flot for September 15, reported in the Embassy’s 1180 above referred to, which concludes with a disclaimer of Soviet interests in the imperialist struggle in the Balkans, appears likewise to reflect a similar tendency.
In connection with the foregoing a Secretary of the Italian Embassy has stated with reference to the liquidation of the Italian Consulate in Cernovitz that the Soviet authorities there were dissatisfied with the existing frontier in Bukowina and that it was quite possible that the intention of the Soviet Government in publicizing the alleged incidents along the frontier in that region was to obtain a slight rectification of the Bukowina line of demarcation.
- Latter not printed.↩