740.00119 EW/10–1644: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:42 p.m.]
8782. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. Thank you for Department’s helpful telegram 8526, October 14, midnight, regarding Bulgarian armistice. Today Strang gave Mosely10 a copy of a telegram from Eden of October 15.
Summary follows: Eden considered new Russian draft of article XVIII an improvement over the United States draft because of its specific reference to the participation of British and American representatives in the Control Commission. After a prolonged tussle, Molotov agreed to drop the reference to the Soviet High Command supervising the Control Commission after cessation of hostilities, in return for a provision that the chairmanship of the Commission should be held by a representative of the Soviet High Command. Molotov [Page 458] still insists upon the Soviet High Command retaining in practice the general direction of the work of the Control Commission by virtue of the continued presence of Soviet troops in Bulgaria for the whole period during which the Control Commission would operate and by virtue of the predominant Russian interests which the United Kingdom had admitted to be theirs in that country.
The Russians have refused to accept a general clause as in the last sentence of the United States draft of article XVIII. They have agreed on insertion of a provision for demobilization of the Bulgarian Army to a peace footing under the direction of the Control Commission. They agree to provide in a protocol to article IX for Bulgarian foodstuffs to be made available for relief in the Greek and Yugoslav territories devastated by the Bulgarians. The Russians also agree to make provision for currency and other needs of Allied representatives in Bulgaria, in a protocol to article VI.
The Soviet Government agrees that the Control Commission should take action to safeguard Bulgarian assets but are unwilling to put this in writing. Molotov refused any provision about procurement of Bulgarian products for United States and United Kingdom war purposes but promised personal support for any demands we might wish to make provided United Kingdom would support Soviet requirements.
Eden feels that after long hours of discussion, he has got as much as is humanly possible. The Russians insisted interminably that Bulgarians must not be treated worse than Rumanians and Hungarians. Mr. Eden feels that in London and in Washington the strong and special interest of the Russians in Bulgaria as a Slav country is not sufficiently realized. Mr. Eden sent me his personal assurance that he has done all he can to secure as much as possible of the American draft. In conclusion he promises to send the texts as soon as possible. (End of summary.)
When we receive the new texts, especially article XVIII, we shall be in a better position to determine how far the new texts meet the views of our Government which are so well set forth in Department’s 8526. It is interesting to note that the Soviet Government plans to continue the occupation of Bulgaria after the cessation of hostilities with Germany. In the early stages of negotiation for Bulgarian armistice terms, the Soviet representative objected vigorously to including in the United States-United Kingdom terms any provision for occupation of Bulgaria despite the fact that we made it clear that we hoped we would not have to use this right on any considerable scale but were mainly concerned to have this right included in the armistice as a means of assuring Bulgarian compliance. It is also my understanding of the Moscow declaration that after the cessation of hostilities in Europe, Soviet and other Allied Forces will not be used outside the territories of their own countries except after consultation.
The European Advisory Commission will not consider Bulgarian armistice until we have the full material promised from Moscow and have had a chance to consider it.
- Philip E. Mosely, Chief, Division of Territorial Studies, on detail to the European Advisory Commission.↩