740.00119 EW/8–2544: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
2038. The Consulate General at Istanbul has reported that two Bulgarians now in that city, George P. Kisseloff and Stoycho Moshanov, have displayed authorization in the form of a memorandum from the Sofia Foreign Office for them to serve as delegates of the Bulgarian Government in initiating at once conversations with the American and British representatives and Soviet observers looking to Bulgaria’s withdrawal from the war and establishment of a status of neutrality.
The Department is informing the British Government through its Embassy in Washington of Mr. Molotov’s letter to you and indicating that it knows of no reason why these discussions should not be held in Ankara, particularly since both Ambassador MacVeagh and Lord Moyne are absent from Cairo. The Department is also proposing that the Bulgarian delegates who are now in Turkey be told that the American and British Ambassadors in Ankara will receive them to discuss the terms of Bulgarian surrender, that the Soviet Government is being invited to have a representative present at any such conversations and that any actions favorable to the Allies taken by the Bulgarian Government in the meantime, for example, the release of Allied prisoners, the termination of Bulgarian hostilities against the United Nations, the severance of relations with Germany or the ejection of German forces from Bulgarian territory, will receive consideration in judging the sincerity of Bulgaria’s intentions.
Please immediately inform the Soviet Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the foregoing and state that notification will be communicated to the Soviet Government at once in case the British indicate their approval of the foregoing proposals.