871.00/9–1045: Telegram
The Ambassador m the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:30 p.m.]
3227. Following reply received from Vyshinsky this afternoon to note1 which I addressed to him on September 7 on situation in Rumania.
“In connection with your remarks in letter dated September 7 on Rumania, I must say the following. The position of the Soviet Govt with respect to the present Govt of Rumania headed by Peter Groza was set forth in detail in a note addressed to you dated September 12 [Page 615] and I see no need to dwell again on this question. This letter also makes clear the inadmissibility to the Soviet Union of your proposal regarding the resignation of the govt of Peter Groza which was formed by no means at the insistence of the Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, as you write, but as the result of the union of the democratic forces of the country, and this has been demonstrated by the half year of the existence of the present Rumanian Govt, which enjoys the full support of the majority of the Rumanian people. There should be added to this the fact that the King of Rumania himself, after sending to the Govts of the USA, Great Britain and the Soviet Union the letter of which you are cognizant regarding a reorganization of the present Rumanian Govt, officially declared to the powers that he had no grievances whatsoever against the Groza govt and raised the question concerning the resignation of this govt as a result of those statements which were made to him by the representatives of the US and Great Britain.
With respect to your remark that the future existence of an impasse in the relations between the King and the govt of Peter Groza is intolerable, there cannot be two opinions on this question. One should indeed find a way out of this impasse. Therefore the Soviet Govt agreed as you already know to consult with the Govts of the US and Great Britain on the situation which has been created in Rumania and advocated the carrying on of such consultations in the period after the termination of the work of the September session of the Council of Foreign Ministers. You find, however, that this is incompatible with the agreement reached at the Berlin Conference on the preparation of a peace treaty for Rumania maintaining that the discussion of this question at the Council of Foreign Ministers should be connected with the discussion of the question concerning the Rumanian Govt. But such a statement does not follow from the decisions of the Berlin Conference.
You dispute the statements contained in the letter of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov of September 1 regarding the incorrectness of the actions of the American and British representatives on the Allied Control Commission who endeavored to bring about the resignation of the present Rumanian Govt without preliminary discussion of this question on the Allied Control Commission. But the information at the disposal of the Soviet Govt shows irrefutably that the American and British representatives on the Allied Control Commission placed before the King of Rumania the question of the resignation of the Govt of Peter Groza without any attempt to submit this question to preliminary discussion on the Commission.
Accept, Mr. Ambassador, etc.”
Sent to Dept repeated to London for Secretary Byrnes 441 and Bucharest 134.
[The Council of Foreign Ministers held its first session in London, September 11–October 2, 1945. The American delegation was headed by Secretary of State Byrnes. In the course of the session, procedures [Page 616] for the preparation of a peace treaty with Rumania, the recognition of the Rumanian Government, and the broadening of the Rumanian regime were discussed, especially at the 14th meeting, September 20, and the 15th and 16th meetings, September 21. For the records of these meetings and other documentation regarding the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, see volume II, pages 99 ff.]
- Telegram 1967, September 6, to Moscow, instructed Ambassador Harriman to deliver a note set forth in telegram 7566, September 4, to London (repeated to Moscow as 1948), p. 606. The note, in paraphrase, was delivered on September 7.↩
- Molotov’s note, dated September 1, was transmitted to the Department in telegram 3149, September 3, from Moscow, p. 603.↩