740.00119 Council/3–746
The Soviet Chargé (Novikov) to the Secretary of State
Sir: In connection with the aide-mémoire presented by the Department of State of the United States of America to the Political Representative of Bulgaria in the United States on February 22, 194674 I have been instructed by the Soviet Government to communicate to you the following:
In the above mentioned aide-mémoire it is said that in the Moscow agreement it is provided for that the participation in the Bulgarian Government of two representatives of the opposition “must be based on the conditions mutually acceptable both to the Bulgarian Government and to the opposition”.
[Page 84]In fact in the decision of the Conference of the three Ministers in Moscow in December 1945 only two conditions are provided for. These conditions are to the effect that the two representatives of other democratic groups who are to be included in the Bulgarian Government:
- (a)
- be truly representative of the groups of the parties not participating in the Government and
- (b)
- be really suitable and work loyally together with the Government.
No other conditions in the decision on Bulgaria were adopted at the Moscow Conference.
In view of the foregoing the Soviet Government deems necessary to state the following:
Firstly, the statement of the United States Government made to the Bulgarian Government on February 22 does not correspond with the taken in Moscow decision concerning Bulgaria, since nothing is said in the decision of the Moscow Conference that the representatives of the opposition have to enter the Bulgarian Government on the basis of some mutually acceptable conditions.
Secondly, the said statement of the United States Government is the violation of the Moscow decision of the three Ministers since a new condition for the participation in the Bulgarian Government of the representatives of the opposition, not provided for in this decision, is set forth in this statement.
Thirdly, the Soviet Government had already drawn the attention of the United States Government to the fact that Mr. Barnes, the representative of the United States in Bulgaria, systematically incited Bulgarian opposition leaders to act not on the basis of the decision of the three Ministers, but to set forth new conditions for entering the Bulgarian Government not provided for by the Moscow Conference. The statement of the United States Government made to the Bulgarian Government on February 22 is inspired by the same tendency as the actions of Mr. Barnes and it may only encourage the representatives of the Bulgarian opposition to resist the decision of the Conference of the Three Ministers.
Thus the Government of the United States not only did not take any measures to contribute to the fulfillment of the decision of the Moscow Conference of the Three Ministers, but, on the contrary, by its statement of February 22 moves the opposition to a breach of the decision taken with the participation of the representatives of the United States at the Moscow Conference.
It is necessary to note the fact, that the said statement of the United States Government was made unilaterally, and without any attempt [Page 85] at preliminary coordination of this step with other interested Governments which participated in taking the decision on Bulgaria.
The Soviet Government notifies the Government of the United States that it deemed necessary to inform the Bulgarian Government of its present statement since the statement of the United States Government of February 22 was brought to the attention of the Bulgarian Government.
Accept [etc.]
[On March 10, 1946, the Secretary of State sent to Soviet Chargé Novikov a note responding to the latter’s communication of March 7, supra. For text of the Secretary’s note, which was released to the press on March 11, see Department of State Bulletin, March 24, 1946, page 485. In a memorandum to the Department of State dated March 27, 1946, not printed, the British Embassy stated that Foreign Secretary Bevin had received a copy of the Soviet note of March 7 to Secretary Byrnes and had replied to the Soviet Embassy in a note on March 22 along lines which were in general agreement with those of the United States Government (874.01/3–2746).]
- For text of the aide-mémoire of February 22, 1946, a copy of which was transmitted to the Soviet Foreign Commissariat on February 27, see Department of State Bulletin, March 17, 1946, p. 447.↩