711.61/779: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 24—10:29 a.m.]
1776. Department’s 896, December 21, 2 p.m. In the event that the Under Secretary should desire to reply to Umanski’s statements on December 16, I submit the following comments.
- (a)
- Of the approximate 600 persons in Soviet-occupied Poland whose claims to American citizenship have seemed sufficiently well-founded to warrant investigation by the Embassy, permission for only approximately 100 to depart from the Soviet Union or to come to Moscow for the purpose of obtaining American passports has been obtained by the Embassy during the past 15 months. Repeated representations have been made by the Embassy to the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs with respect to the other approximately 500 cases but without avail. Thus the extent to which the Soviet Government has “been leaning over backwards” in this matter is not likely to cause it to lose its balance.
- (b)
- While the Embassy does not know which “six persons” Umanski referred to the four most recent cases which have come to the Embassy’s attention were of individuals either bearing American passports or for whom the issuance thereof has been authorized.
- (c)
- Of the six Soviet wives, three of them have been endeavoring to renounce Soviet citizenship for 3 years and I have been actively pressing for the entire six since my first arrival in Moscow. As evidence that the elaborate procedure cited by Umanski does not always necessitate the lapse of considerable time, I may point to the fact that when a British citizen endeavored to circumvent the procedure by abducting his wife in an airplane, the Soviet authorities enabled her to relinquish her Soviet citizenship within 2 or 3 days; and that in the case of one of the employees of the Embassy some years ago similar promptness was forthcoming.
- (d)
- The orders to which Umanski referred have apparently been effective as the Embassy has had no further complaints on this score.
- (e)
- I hope that Umanski’s assurances as to the dates on which the apartments will be available will prove to be more reliable than the assurances received from the Soviet authorities in Moscow that these apartments would be furnished some months ago and the more recent assurances that at least some additional housing would be available not later than November 15.
- (f)
- Apparently those administering the Soviet fire regulations consider the fire hazard greater in the ample garden of the American Embassy than from containers installed immediately adjacent to buildings in the center of Moscow. It is quite correct that no limitation has been placed upon the amount of gasoline which the Embassy may use nor is it the general practice of the Soviet Government to ration or limit purchases. A far more simple method is in vogue of limiting the total supply available to the city of Moscow with the result that for days and sometimes weeks at a time gasoline cannot be bought.
The mishandling of our food shipment took place despite the presence of an Embassy representative who exhibited detailed packing lists so that there could not have been any “misunderstanding” over the contents of the shipment. The misunderstanding to which Umanski refers arose subsequently out of a demand for quadruple the freight rate on another shipment and was in no sense related to the destruction of our food.
I am indebted to Umanski for information as to the position of the Soviet authorities with respect to the four former employees of our Legation in Kaunas as repeated representations to the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs have failed to elicit a definite response.
With respect to Umanski’s final observations, the Under Secretary may wish to suggest to him that as a result of his years of residence in the United States, he may no longer attach as much importance to freedom of movement, housing, transportation, and a modest food supply as those of us who reside in his native city.