861.56/192: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 10—6:40 p.m.]
1329. The Embassy has been endeavoring to obtain permission for eight Soviet spouses of American citizens to depart from the Soviet Union. In discussing these cases today Valkov,3 of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, stated that the Soviet authorities are examining their petitions for permission to renounce Soviet citizenship and intimated that the petitions of the following spouses will probably be approved in the near future: Mariya Scott, Neonila Magidoff and Louis Salant. John Scott and Robert Magidoff, the American husbands of Mesdames Scott and Magidoff, are now in Moscow and Julia Salant, the American wife of Louis Salant, is at 1086 President Street, Brooklyn, New York.
In discussing the 360 persons of known or alleged American citizenship in Soviet occupied Poland on whose behalf the Embassy has been striving for months to obtain permission for their travel to Moscow, Valkov indicated that their cases are being examined by the Soviet authorities and that those who are not vested with Soviet citizenship will probably be permitted to visit the Embassy. The Embassy is unaware of the number of dual nationals among these persons.
- Vasily Alexeyevich Valkov, Chief of the American Section in the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.↩