740.00119 Control (Rumania)/9–2344: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 24—8 a.m.]
3651. I have received a note from the Foreign Office dated September 20 informing me that in conformity with Article 18 of the armistice agreement with Rumania the Soviet Government has appointed as Chairman of the Allied Control Commission in Rumania Marshal R. Y. Malinovski, Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Lieutenant General V. P. Vinogradov and Assistants to the Chairman of the Commission Rear Admiral P. L. Bogdanko and Colonel I. S. Sidorov. The note states that Major General V. V. Vasiliev has been named Chief of Staff of the Commission.
A set of statutes regarding the Allied Control Commission in Rumania which the note states has been approved by the Allied (Soviet) High Command was enclosed. The British Embassy has telegraphed the texts of this document to London and Washington and for security reasons I am therefore not telegraphing it. Our translation of point 6 (G) of this document differs from the British translation and reads as follows:
“(G) to have a staff of collaborators (Sotrudnikov) in the number of five persons each”.
In view of the fact that the statutes specifically provide that the American and British representatives are to be representatives of the [Page 241] “Allied Command” and in view of the restriction imposed upon them I presume that the Department will wish to concert with the British in arranging for American and British political representation in Rumania apart from our representatives on the Control Commission or alternatively to press for direct contact between our representatives on the Control Commission and the Rumanian Government, in accordance with Molotov’s assurance last April that the British and ourselves could have political representation in Rumania in the same way as the Russians have political representation in Italy.
Lacking detailed information of the facilities accorded or restrictions played [placed] upon Soviet representation in Italy I am unable to determine the extent to which these statutes reciprocate or fail to reciprocate the Italian arrangements.
I suggest that in acknowledging this communication I be authorized to state that we interpret point 6 (G) quoted above to give us the right to have five officers in the Control Commission apart from the necessary clerical staff such as radio operators, code clerks, et cetera.
Sent to Department as 3651, repeated to London as 185.