861.24/1136
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
The Soviet Ambassador called to see me this afternoon at his request. Mr. Litvinov stated that he wished to inform me that as a result of preliminary conversations held between the Lease Lend authority and the Soviet Embassy, the Russian Government had decided to appoint a staff in Washington headed by Major General Belyaev and Rear Admiral Akulin which as a commission would deal directly with the Lease Lend authority in all matters relating to military and naval assistance to be received from the United States.71 The Ambassador said that the Amtorg would continue to function as a purely commercial organization but that this type of work which up to now had been entrusted to Amtorg would now be entrusted to this new commission.
He stated that it was the desire of his government to function vis-à-vis the United States in exactly the same way as the British commission was functioning. He said he trusted that his people would now be accorded the same rights and privileges as the members of the British mission particularly with regard to the sending of code messages directly to their opposite numbers in Moscow. He said that the staff of his Embassy was not sufficient to make it possible for them to take care of the encoding of all messages of this character and he therefore hoped that this arrangement could be carried out.
I said I would look into the matter immediately but that in principle I was glad to tell him that this Government would, of course, be glad to make arrangements for his mission such as had been made for the British and other United Nations in Washington. I stated that I would confirm this by means of a letter.72 The Ambassador seemed to be very much pleased. He said he thought probably Mr. Lukashev73 would be transferred from Amtorg to this new commission since he was so fully familiar with the questions involved.
- This Purchasing Commission of the Soviet Union was appointed by the Soviet Government on February 27, 1942. Maj. Gen. Alexander Ivanovich Belyaev was Chairman, and Rear Adm. Mikhail Ivanovich Akulin was Vice Chairman. According to a note of November 2, 1942, from Ambassador Litvinov the official full title of this purchasing agency was thenceforth to be “The Government Purchasing Commission of the Soviet Union in the United States.” (861.24/1152)↩
- The Soviet Ambassador confirmed the details of this conversation in a letter of March 4, 1942. The Acting Secretary of State, in his acknowledgment of March 5, declared: “This Commission will enjoy a status similar to that of the British Purchasing Commission, It will be afforded the privilege of using” confidential codes and such other facilities as are necessary to carry on its activities.” (861.24/1137)↩
- Konstantin Ignatyevich Lukashev, Chairman of the Board and President of the Amtorg Trading Corporation, became a Vice Chairman of this Commission.↩