861.24/3–2445
The Department of State to the Embassy of the Soviet Union 36
Aide-Mémoire
In a conversation on March 10, 1945, the Soviet Ambassador left with the Acting Secretary of State the text of a clause which the [Page 992] Soviet Government wished to have inserted in the text of the Fourth Protocol. This clause was as follows:
“The reference in the Protocol to a supplementary agreement to the agreement of June 11, 1942 does not mean the consent of the Soviet Government to the conclusion of such an agreement. The Soviet Government counts on the solution of the question of the financial conditions for the deliveries in question on the basis of the proposal outlined in the aide-mémoire handed to the Ambassador of the United States in Moscow on January 3, 1945.”
The United States Government wishes to advise the Soviet Government that at this time it can give no assurance concerning the Soviet Government’s proposals for a postwar credit outlined in the aide-mémoire handed to the Ambassador of the United States in Moscow on January 3, 1945. As the Soviet Government was advised in a memorandum to the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires of March 3, 1945, these proposals are being given careful consideration but constitute a separate matter and must be considered apart from the Fourth Protocol. It is further desired to emphasize that these proposals, which would necessitate the enactment of additional appropriate legislation by the Congress beyond the scope of the Lend-Lease Act, would, in any case, require a considerable amount of time to effectuate.
The United States Government had not intended by the inclusion in the Fourth Protocol of reference to the proposed supplementary agreement to the agreement of June 11, 1942 to imply in any way that the Soviet Government agreed to the conclusion of the proposed agreement. In order to make this perfectly clear the United States Government agrees to delete the words “have been or” in Article IV of the Fourth Protocol, which would then read as follows:
Article IV
The financial arrangements concluded between the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Government of the United States in connection with the supplies furnished in pursuance of the present Protocol may be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Master Lend-Lease Agreement of June 11, 1942, and with the terms and conditions of any amendments to said agreement which may hereafter be concluded by mutual agreement or the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may elect to purchase from the United States schedules of supplies for cash.
In view of the fact that negotiations regarding the proposed supplementary agreement under the Lend-Lease Act have now extended over a period of ten months during which time the Soviet Government has not indicated its willingness to agree to the final terms offered by this Government, the United States Government considers that the proposals which were made to the Soviet Government in its note of May 24, 194437 and stated in final form in the draft submitted to Mr. [Page 993] Stepanov on September 14, 194438 have lapsed and that the negotiations on these specific proposals have come to an end.
Accordingly it will be necessary to revise paragraph III, page 24 of the United States schedules annexed to the Fourth Protocol to read as follows:
Items designated by the symbol “III” in the following schedules totalling approximately $481,807,000 represent supplies requested by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for its war production programs, which require a long period to produce, or to reproduce if already constructed, and have a long period of useful life. Items under this paragraph will not be financed under the Lend-Lease Act, but may be purchased by the U.S.S.R. if it so elects. All items under this paragraph are also subject to the following conditions etc.
The United States Government considers that the prompt signature of the Fourth Protocol is to the interest of both Governments and hopes that the signature of the Protocol with the amendments described above can now take place.
The United States Government also considers that it would be to the mutual interests of both Governments to conclude an agreement concerning the disposition under the Lend-Lease Act to the Soviet Union, after the termination of hostilities against the common enemy, of certain supplies which the United States may undertake to furnish to the Soviet Union for use in the prosecution of the war and which are under contract or in inventory at the termination of hostilities.
- Handed to the Minister-Counselor of the Embassy (Novikov) on the afternoon of March 24, 1945, by the Acting Secretary of State (Grew). The Department in its telegram 30, March 26, 7 p.m., to Ottawa, reported the contents and authorized signature of the Fourth Protocol if and when the Soviet Government agreed to the amendments (861.24/3–2645).↩
- Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iv, p. 1087.↩
- See telegram 2226, September 10, 1944, 11 p.m., to Moscow, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iv, p. 1139.↩