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  4. Document 899

740.0011 European War 1939/8892: Telegram

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

Moscow, March 9, 1941—1 p.m.
[Received 3:15 p.m.]

455. I understand that the Soviet Ambassador at Ankara has intimated to the Turkish Government that the Soviet Government is prepared to “enlarge its policy towards Turkey”. My informant interpreted the phrase to mean that the Soviet Government would be prepared to discuss the delivery of war material to Turkey in the event of a German attack. He gave it as his opinion that the Soviet Government was motivated less by fear of a German attack on Turkey and its consequences than by the fear that Turkey might join the Tripartite Pact.31

Steinhardt
  1. Signed at Berlin by Japan, Germany, and Italy, September 27, 1940; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cciv, p. 386.↩