740.00116 European War 1939/425: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Steinhardt ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 9—1:50 p.m.]
1458. The following third person note has been received from the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.
“The People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America and has the honor to state that in the present war with Germany which has been forced upon the Soviet Union the Government of the Union of SSR will observe the universally known international treaties concerning the rules of warfare and in particular, (1) the Hague Convention of October 1907 regarding the rules and customs of warfare on land45 and, (2) the Geneva Protocol of July [June] 17, 1925 prohibiting the use in war of suffocating, poisonous or other similar gases as well as of bacteriological means,46 (3) the Geneva Convention of July 27, 1928 [1929] regarding improvement of the care for the wounded and sick in fighting armies47
The Soviet Government considers it however necessary to state that in view of the systematic violation by Hitlerite Germany of international [Page 1006] agreements and conventions the Soviet Government shall observe with respect to Germany the above mentioned treaties and conventions only insofar as they are observed by Germany. Moscow, August 8, 1941.”
- Signed at The Hague on October 18, 1907; for text, see Foreign Relations, 1907, pt. 2, p. 1204; or 36 Stat. 2277.↩
- For text, see Foreign Relations, 1925, vol. i, p. 89; or League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. xciv, p. 65.↩
- For text, see Foreign Relations, 1929, vol. i, p. 321; or League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cxviii, p. 303.↩