740.0011 European War 1939/32330½: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
1419. Personal for the Ambassador. I have been most interested in the contents of your 2199 and 2200, December 1258 and I hope that [Page 312] you will continue to report fully any further conversations you may have with the Swedish Minister regarding this important matter. The Swedes are vitally concerned in the future status of Finland and accordingly have an equally vital interest in getting Finland out of the war as soon as possible. I think, therefore, that we may count on the Swedes to overlook no opportunity and to follow up vigorously any possibility of bringing about a settlement. All the information which comes to me here from various sources seems to bear this out. As a matter of fact we have recently learned through Herschel Johnson and through the British that the Swedish Foreign Office is secretly making very active explorations with both Soviet and Finnish representatives in Stockholm and I have no reason to believe that the Swedes will not in their own interests continue to search actively for a solution in a matter they consider so vital to them.
On the other hand our own past efforts have been barren of result and our status as an Ally of the Soviet Union makes our position in the matter somewhat delicate. Accordingly I agree with you that initiatives in this matter should continue to come from the Swedes rather than from us. Hence I have telegraphed to Johnson60 a full account of your conversation with Assarsson and instructed him to inform Boheman, Secretary General of the Swedish Foreign Office, in strictest confidence to that effect and to say that “he will of course appreciate our position in this matter as an Ally of the USSR and that any initiative to the end suggested by the Swedish Minister must he entirely on the responsibility of the Swedish Government. Likewise on the questions of the initiation of peace negotiations between Finland and the Soviet Union and the basis for such negotiations it has been and is the position of this Government that these are matters solely for the decision of the Finnish Government and that this Government can accept no responsibility with respect to either question.” Johnson was also instructed to say to Boheman that regarding the question of Finnish collaboration with Germany responsibility for such collaboration must continue to rest with the Finnish Government.
It seems to me under all the circumstances this is as far as we should go now and that it would be better from many standpoints if you did not at this time initiate any discussions regarding the matter with Molotov or any Soviet officials. I shall, of course, continue to keep in close touch with developments through reports from you and-Johnson so that no opportunity to be of help may be overlooked. A factor which I have in mind in this connection are reports from Finland that currently dominant Finnish circles are moving towards [Page 313] Germany as an alternative to what they have recently been led to believe might be the imposition upon them by the Soviet Union of “unconditional surrender” or other peace terms unacceptable to them.
- In these two telegrams, and also in his telegram No. 2231 of December 15, 1943, Ambassador Harriman informed the Department of conversations with the Swedish Minister in the Soviet Union, Assarsson, concerning the Swedish Government’s attitude and possible plans on the problem of getting Finland out of the war. The Swedes felt that Hangö might not be an insurmountable obstacle, since “in December 1941 Stalin had told Eden he would agree to accept Petsamo in exchange for the lease of Hangö.” The Finns insisted on getting an agreement that Russian troops would not enter Finland to aid in expelling the Germans, and they wanted to initiate peace negotiations on the basis of the 1939 frontiers, with some adjustments in favor of the Soviet Union. (740.0011 European War 1939/32330¼, 32330½, 32347½)↩
- Telegram No. 1381, December 17, noon, to the Minister in Sweden, not printed.↩