740.00114 European War 1939/2018: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Dickerson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 24—6:27 a.m.]
2097. Embassy’s 2064, and 2065, December 16, 2 p.m. The Chief of the American Section of the Foreign Office63 requested me to call upon him today and stated that, as Thurston is not at present in Kuibyshev, and in conformity with the promise mentioned in paragraph 2 of the Embassy’s telegram No. 2064 under reference, Vyshinski had authorized him to inform me that the definitive reply of the Soviet Government with respect to the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war is contained in its note of November 25, 1941 (see Embassy’s telegram No. 1977, November 26, 11 a.m.). Prior to making this statement Zarubin referred to Thurston’s proposal, as outlined in the final paragraph of the Embassy’s telegram No. 1977 and to which Thurston reverted in his conversation with Vyshinski on December 9. He remarked that Vyshinski had informed Thurston that except for article 9 of the Geneva Convention “there was no reason to speak of that convention in as much as in all other points, aside from certain very insignificant ones to which the Soviet Government raises no objection, the Geneva Convention is identical with the Hague Convention.”
As no reply has as yet been received to the Embassy’s telegram No. 2064, I made no comment on the foregoing statement.
Repeated to Moscow.
- Georgy Nikolayevich Zarubin.↩