861.01B11/155
The Embassy of the Soviet Union to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire14
Victor Andreevich Kravchenko, Military engineer of the third rank, inspector of the Government Purchasing Commission of the U.S.S.R. in the United States being in active military service in the Red Army and being temporarily sent to the United States, has deserted in the beginning of April, 1944 having violated the military laws of the U.S.S.R. and his military duty. His crime, deserter Kravchenko has covered up by a slanderous statement15 trying to give his crime a political coloring and hoping thereby to avoid his extradiction as a deserter to the Government of the U.S.S.R.
The Soviet Government expresses confidence that the Government of the United States will agree that such crimes as desertion are especially dangerous under war conditions, and that the fight against them is necessary in the interests of our both Governments. The Soviet Government asks the Government of the United States, taking into consideration the above-mentioned circumstances, to turn Kravchenko over to the Soviet authorities for prosecution [of] him for desertion.