740.00112 European War 1939/10937b: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Hamilton)
1250. We have been informed by the British that a complication has arisen in our ball-bearing negotiations with Sweden in that the Russians have informed the British that they did not wish to run any risk of losing the supplies which are being manufactured for them by SKF Sweden.
Please ask the British Embassy in Moscow to give you full details on this matter. We have been fully informed through the British Embassy in Washington.
After consultation with the British Embassy we believe that it would be helpful if you would call on the appropriate Soviet official and express your Government’s appreciation for the very helpful support given by the Soviet Legation in Stockholm to our démarche to the Swedish Government looking to the elimination of Swedish exports of ball bearings to the enemy. We assume that the Soviet Government has been kept informed by the Soviet Legation in Stockholm of the negotiations which have since developed, as we have instructed our Minister in Stockholm to keep his Soviet colleague fully informed.
The Soviet Government is of course aware of the great importance which this Government attaches to the elimination or at least greatest possible limitation on Swedish ball-bearing exports to the enemy because of their essentiality to the strength of German military and [Page 547] air forces operating against Soviet as well as British and American troops. It now seems possible that the solution to this problem may be found in a Swedish embargo on ball-bearing exports, particularly bearings of military importance, to all belligerents, Axis as well as United Nations. Such embargo would place certain strain on British as well as American production facilities to the extent that British needs in particular have been met by imports from Sweden. It is our understanding that the Soviet Government has placed orders in Sweden but that deliveries under these orders have been effected only to the limited extent that shipments could be made by air from Sweden to the United Kingdom and thence to the Soviet Union; that accordingly by far the greater part of supplies manufactured in Sweden to Russian order remain in Sweden and cannot be shipped until the military situation permits. The immediate effect upon the Russian supply situation of a total embargo on Swedish bearings exports would appear therefore to be very small. For this reason and for the more important reason, namely, the importance of depriving the enemy to the greatest extent possible of this assistance derived from Sweden we hope very much that the Soviet Government will not interpose any objection to the imposition of a Swedish embargo and will forego in the same manner as the United States and the United Kingdom its supply of bearings from Sweden if necessary to keep bearings from the enemy. The American Government in conjunction with the British Government will make every effort to safeguard Russian essential supplies from our own resources (we understand that a similar assurance has already been given the Soviet Government by the British Ambassador in Moscow).
Sent to Moscow, repeated to London as Department’s no. 4013 and to Stockholm as Department’s no. 961 referring to London’s 3998, May 17.56
- Not printed.↩