760D.61/1564: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:08 p.m.]
157. See last paragraph my telegram 141, May 10.79 Minister of Foreign Affairs told me today that while in general it might be said that Russian attitude toward Finland has been more friendly in the recent past, difficulties of various kinds continue to exist and when Russians make concessions in one respect they press the Finns hard in other respects so that the position is never very clear. For instance serious controversy exists regarding Finnish claims for compensation in connection with hydroelectric development at Vallinkoski80 in which matter latest Russian note shows no disposition to accept Finnish point of view. There is some hope that when Finnish deliveries of tugboats and lighters under last year’s trade agreement begin next month Russians may facilitate delivery of commodities withheld from export to Finland including grain but there is no certainty as to this.
[Page 29]Finnish Legation at Moscow has apparently reported that Stalin’s recent assumption of one of Molotov’s offices81 is increasingly interpreted there as indicating further veering of Soviet policy toward Germany.
Witting intimated that though it was still undecided, appointment of former Finnish Minister at Tallinn, Hynninen, to succeed Paasikivi is under consideration.82 Hynninen is now in Moscow as Minister Counselor.
Repeated to Moscow.
- Not printed.↩
- The Enso power station near the Vallinkoski Rapids in the Vuoksi River.↩
- The assumption by Stalin on May 6, 1941, of the office of President (Chairman) of the Council of People’s Commissars (Prime Minister) was reported by the Ambassador in the Soviet Union in telegram No. 922, May 7, p. 613.↩
- P. J. Hynninen did become the Finnish Minister in the Soviet Union during May 1941.↩