861.8623/5–1745

The Embassy of the Soviet Union to the Department of State

[Translation]

The Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics presents its compliments to the Department of State and, referring to its memorandum of May 2, 1945, it has the honor to communicate the following:

[Page 1145]

Repeatedly and in the course of a great length of time, the Embassy placed before the Department of State the question of the delivery of the deserters—sailors of the Soviet Navy Pik and Lobanov—to the hands of the Soviet Authorities.

Declarations of this nature were contained in the oral statements made by Mr. Kapustin of the Soviet Embassy on January 9, January 22, January 25 and March 1 of 1945,46 as well as in the Memorandum of the Embassy of March 29, 1945.

As is evident from the confrontation of the representatives of the Embassy on the subject of the deserters Pik and Lobanov and the leaving of the territories of the U. S. A. by the latter—Lobanov in January, 1945, and Pik in February, 1945—some of the démarches of the Embassy took place when Pik and Lobanov were no longer within the boundaries of the U. S. A. It is evident that this phenomenon was caused only because the Department of State, which at that time undoubtedly could have had the necessary facts at its disposal, did not inform the Embassy thereof. Thus, for example, upon the démarches of the Embassy on January 9, January 22, January 25 and March 1, the corresponding functionaries of the Department of State confined themselves in their answers to a reference to the lack of information from the immigration authorities, who had arrested Pik and Lobanov, instead of informing the Embassy about the actual state of affairs. The Embassy is obliged to state that the delay in the settlement of this case on the part of the Americans has resulted in the fact that Pik and Lobanov have now been deported, and the lawful request of the Government of the U. S. S. R. concerning the delivery of these deserters to the hands of the Soviet Authorities has not been complied with.

The Embassy requests that the Department of State communicate as soon as possible the exact date of the deportation of Pik and Lobanov, the name and national ownership of the ships on which they were deported, and for what country the deserters in question left the U. S. A. The Embassy is certain that the competent American Authorities have at their disposal the information necessary, and will be so good as to cooperate with it in the search for the sailor deserters Pik and Lobanov, since they are Soviet citizens.

  1. See memoranda dated January 9 and 24, and March 20, pp. 1139, 1140, and 1141, respectively.