860C.01/582: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 5—12:40 a.m.]
1439. Pravda and Izvestiya published on August 3 a full translation of late speech on the Soviet-Polish agreement made by General Sikorsky in London on July 22. Izvestiya on the same date and Pravda on August 4 publish almost identical editorials, taking exception to certain of his remarks. Latter is said to have declared that the 1939 Polish front[ier] could not be questioned and that no one could presume that Poland would renounce anything. The editorials state that it is impossible to agree with this point of view and declare that this is not the time to discuss frontier questions. “We do not consider the Soviet-Polish frontiers established by the treaty of Riga of 1921 to be unchangeable.” The editorials also state that the majority of the population of the Soviet occupied area of Poland was Ukrainian and White Russian and that the possession of this area had been of great defensive value to the Soviet Union in the present war.
Repeated to London.