Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Volume III

861.24/1259: Telegram

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

[Extracts]

Moscow, February 2, 1943—2 p.m.
[Received February 3—7:18 a.m.]

74. To Stettinius from Faymonville.

1. Refer to your 35, January 19, midnight. Commissar⁴⁸ regrets that it has been necessary to submit sudden and unexpected requests for industrial equipment and for some chemicals. He states that all such requests are for munitions industry and are caused by unexpected army demands which in turn result from changes in battle requirements. He has promised to keep me informed of probable changes in priorities in classes of cargo. Specifically he expects no change in present high priority of food products. He foresees a possible sudden demand for farm machinery and seed when additional regions of the Ukraine are reoccupied. He also foresees a probable requirement for coal mining equipment when the enemy is cleaned out of the Don basin. In my own opinion we should also be ready to meet demands for higher priorities in railway equipment.

2. Commissar states that Soviet industry will probably require apparatus and equipment as a result of the present exchange of information between Soviet and American Synthetic Rubber Commissions.⁴⁹ All such requirements for machinery and apparatus will be treated like other Lend-Lease requests and will be handed to you by General Belyaev.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4. Krutikov congratulates you on your speech summarizing Lend-Lease shipments⁵⁰ and only regrets that a considerable portion of the cargoes did not reach the Soviet Union. [Faymonville.]

Standley

48. Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan, People’s Commissar for Foreign Trade, and Vice President (Vice Chairman) of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union. In subsequent documents Mikoyan is frequently referred to simply as “Commissar”.
49. The American Synthetic Rubber Commission, headed by E. W. Pittman, arrived in Moscow in December 1942 to examine Soviet synthetic rubber processes and products, in accordance with an earlier American-Soviet arrangement.
50. On January 21, Mr. Stettinius released to the Office of War Information a report on Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviet Union; see the New York Times, January 21, 1943, p. 1. In telegram No. 151, March 9, the Department asked the Embassy in Kuibyshev to send back a full translation of the Stettinius statement as reported in Pravda on January 23 (861.24/1249). The Embassy replied in telegram No. 247, March 11, 9 a.m., p. 752.