740.00115 European War 1939/3250: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:20 p.m.]
455. Department’s 236, May 19, 5 [8] p.m. In my conversation with Vyshinski91 last week I expressed the hope of my Government [Page 148] that the Soviet Government would make as liberal an interpretation as possible of the Soviet-Polish Agreement. I of course endeavored to make it clear that the American Government did not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union or in Soviet-Polish relations, merely stating that my Government felt that the cause of the United Nations would be furthered by increasing the Polish fighting forces in the Soviet Union and Near East to as great an extent as possible and by a display on the part of the Soviet Union of as liberal and humanitarian interpretation as circumstances would permit of the clauses in the agreement relative to the release and evacuation of Polish civilians.
Vyshinski replied that the Soviet Government was fulfilling its agreements with Poland to the letter and commented on the fact that although the Poles had been arming for over 6 months they had as yet shown little disposition to become engaged in actual warfare. I received the distinct impression that Vyshinski was unsympathetic towards my overtures and that he might even have been resentful of our interests in Soviet affairs.
- Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky, Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union.↩