870.811/211: Telegram
The Minister in Rumania (Gunther) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 19—4 p.m.]
626. In the course of a conversation yesterday with Cretzianu, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Benton33 inquired if there had been any sequence to the Russian demand of September 10 to receive from the German Government appropriate [Page 523] information concerning the conference of Danubian experts which opened in Vienna on September 5 (see Moscow Embassy’s telegram No. 1157, of September 13).
The Secretary General replied that no general discussions have occurred regarding Russia’s expression of interest in Danubian matters, but he understands conversations on the subject are being conducted between Berlin and Moscow. He added that Germany is fully aware that Russia’s demands in this regard must be met in some way and he believes this could properly be done through first including Russia in the membership of the European Commission a position to which Russia is entitled as a riparian state in the maritime stretch of the river as a result of her seizure of Bessarabia; it would then be possible to include Russia in any new arrangement made to replace the dissolved international commission.
The code text of this message has been sent by air mail to Berlin with a copy for Moscow.
- J. Webb Benton, First Secretary of Legation and Consul in Rumania.↩