611.6131/584: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State

824. I was requested to call at the Commissariat for Foreign Trade this afternoon. Upon arriving there I was received by Mikhail Stepanovich Stepanov, Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Trade, who read and then handed to me the following communication:

“Moscow, July 1940. Article 3 of the trade agreement of 1937 between the U. S. S. R. and the United States of America, which was renewed on August 6, 1939, provides that the parties must begin negotiations concerning prolongation of the agreement not later than 30 days before the expiration of the period of validity of this agreement.

The receipt by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Trade of the U. S. S. R. of a communication from the Embassy of the United States of America about whether the Government of the United States intends to enter into the above-mentioned negotiations and, in case it does intend to do so, where, when and through what plenipotentiary persons, would be timely.”

I informed the Assistant Commissar that I would bring the matter to the attention of my Government, and that I would advise him promptly of any reply I might be instructed to make to his communication.

Thurston