861.24/4–1346
The Chargé of the Soviet Union (Novikov) to the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Foreign Liquidation Commissioner (McCabe)
Sir: I am authorized to advise you that the Government of the U.S.S.R. agrees to accept the conditions of credit for the purchase of surplus property of the U.S.A., set forth in your letter of 11 February, 1946 to the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Orekhov, but it wishes to introduce a change in Article 6, which it proposes be formulated, as follows:
[“]In the event the Government of the U.S.A. wishes to receive local currency of the U.S.S.R. for the payment of expenditures of the Embassy and Consulates of the U.S.A. in the U.S.S.R., (including expenses for construction agreed to with the responsible agencies of the U.S.S.R.) the Government of the U.S.S.R. will make available to [Page 834] the Government of the U.S.A. Soviet rubles within the limits existing at the present time of 10 million rubles a year, at the most advantageous rate of exchange, which shall be current at the moment the currency is made available. If the Government of the U.S.A. requires a larger sum for the expenses referred to above, the limit of 10 million rubles per year may be raised with the agreement of both parties.
The dollar equivalent to the amount of Soviet rubles received by the Government of the U.S.A. shall be credited to the regular installment or installments of principal and interest on the credit then due and unpaid by the Government of the U.S.S.R.”
In connection with the proposed change in the wording of Article 6 the last sentence of Article 1, beginning with the words “Nothing in this paragraph shall interfere, etc.” should read as follows:
“Nothing in this paragraph shall interfere with the right of the Government of the United States to receive interest and payments in the principal of the credit in Soviet rubles to the extent and on the conditions provided in paragraph (6).”