861.7762/5: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

1286. The press today publishes a communiqué reporting the signature on October 4 in Berlin of an agreement for passenger and freight rail communication between the Soviet Union and Germany. The communiqué states that the negotiations were carried out in a favorable atmosphere by the People’s Commissar for Ways of Communication of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and by the Chief of the Administration of the German Railways.

Although the communiqué gives no details in regard to the proposed direct rail connection I am informed by a member of the German Embassy that the agreement will provide for two direct lines between [Page 567] Moscow and Berlin: one, Moscow–Negoreloe–Warsaw–Berlin and the other, Moscow-Dvinsk–Tilsit–Koenigsberg–Berlin. Service on these roads it is stated will begin within the next few days.

Repeated to Berlin.

Steinhardt