Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1941, General, The Soviet Union, Volume I

740.0011 European War 1939/12092: Telegram

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

Moscow, June 14, 1941—noon.
[Received 3:05 p.m.]

1144. The following Tass communiqué was broadcast last evening and published in all the morning papers.

“Even before the arrival of Mr. Cripps, the English Ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in London, and also particularly after his arrival, rumors concerning the imminence of war between the Soviet Union and Germany began to be widely circulated in the English press as well as in the foreign press in general.⁸² According to these rumors: (1) Germany allegedly has presented [the Soviet Union] with demands of a territorial and economic nature and negotiations are now under way between Germany and the Soviet Union concerning the conclusion of a new and closer agreement between them; (2) the Soviet Union presumably has rejected these demands as a result of which Germany has begun to concentrate its troops on the borders of the Soviet Union with the objective of an attack on her; (3) the Soviet Union in its turn allegedly has begun to prepare intensively for war with Germany and is concentrating troops on the latter’s frontiers.

Despite the obvious absurdity of these rumors responsible circles in Moscow nevertheless considered it necessary in view of the persistent dissemination of these rumors to authorize Tass to state that these rumors are propaganda clumsily concocted by forces hostile to the Soviet Union and Germany, forces which have an interest in the further expansion and extension of the war.

Tass states that: (1) Germany has not presented any demands whatever to the Soviet Union and is not proposing any sort of new closer agreement in which connection negotiations on this topic could not have taken place; (2) according to information in the possession of the Soviet Union, Germany is also unswervingly observing the provisions of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact as is the Soviet Union in which connection rumors concerning Germany’s intention of tearing up the pact and undertaking an attack on the Soviet Union are, in the opinion of Soviet circles, devoid of any basis and the recently conducted transfer of German troops which is [are] freed from operations in the Balkans to the eastern and northeastern regions of Germany must be presumed to be inspired by other motives which do not have any bearing on Soviet-German relations; (3) on the basis of its policy of peace the Soviet Union has observed and intends to observe the provisions of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact in which connection the rumors to the effect that the U. S. S. R. is preparing for war with Germany are false and provocative; (4) the current summer muster of Red army reservists and the forthcoming maneuvers have as their purpose nothing other than the training of reservists and the verification of the operation of the railroad network conducted every year, as is known, in which connection to depict these measures of the Red army as hostile to Germany is ridiculous to say the least.”⁸³

Steinhardt

82. The British concern over the prospect of war between the Soviet Union and Germany is reflected in telegrams No. 2394, June 11, and No. 2435, June 13, from the Chargé in the United Kingdom, pp. 168 and 170, respectively.
83. Ambassador Steinhardt related in telegram No. 1156, June 16, 1941, that he had repeated this message to the Embassy in Berlin, because it appeared that the Soviet communiqué had not been made public in Germany (740.0011 European War 1939/12127).