800.796/813
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by Mr. Joseph C. Grew, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State
I called the Russian Ambassador on the telephone this afternoon and asked him if he yet knew when the two officers coming from Moscow [Page 463] to take part in the post-war civil aviation exploratory talks would arrive in Washington. He had previously told me that they were expected between April 10 and 15. The Ambassador replied that he expects the two officers “within a week or ten days”, but he appears to have no specific information on this point and he made no excuses for or any explanation of the delay.
The Ambassador said that it would be possible to commence the conversations with the group already present in Washington if the matter were regarded as urgent but that he would prefer to await the arrival of the officers from Moscow. I said that if this was his wish, I saw no reason for not awaiting their arrival but that in the meantime we might feel obliged to commence conversations with certain other countries. The Ambassador raised no objection to such procedure.