Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI

740.00119 Control (Bulgaria)/3–2546: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State⁸⁰

restricted

Moscow, March 25, 1946—3 p.m.
[Received March 26—3:15 p.m.]

940. “The Soviet Govt cannot agree with the assertion that the decisions of the Berlin Conference on the revision of the Allied Control Commission procedure in Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary have not received practical implementation in these countries.

“The statement contained in your letter that the United States delegate has not been consulted on the principal questions handled by the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria and that he has not been given the necessary information does not correspond to fact. The Soviet representative on the ACC in Bulgaria has consulted both with the representative of the US and the representative of Great Britain on all principal questions. The representative of the US has been given information and diverse knowledge on the questions of interest to him with the exception of questions which do not bear on the armistice agreement and concern only the Soviet side. Furthermore, the deputy chairman of the ACC in Bulgaria, Colonel General Biryusov constantly works out by agreement (“Soglasovyvaet”) with the representatives of the USA and Great Britain the plans of work of the ACC including in these plans among others questions to be presented for discussion by representative of the USA. Among such questions, for example, is the discussion of the plan of work of the ACC with which the representative of the US on the ACC in Bulgaria expressed his agreement and satisfaction in his letter of September 12, 1945⁸¹ to the Deputy Chairman of the ACC in Bulgaria and also questions connected with the execution of individual clauses of the armistice agreement.

“It is also impossible to agree with the statement of the Govt of the US that the rights and privileges of the American representative on the ACC in Bulgaria particularly in the question of the utilization of American aircraft are being abridged by arbitrary action of the Soviet representatives. According to information at the disposal of the Soviet Govt, requests for the entry of 123 aircraft into Bulgaria were received from the American representative on the CC during the period from Dec 1, 1944 to Feb 23, 1946. All 123 clearances were granted and during this period 102 American aircraft actually arrived in Bulgaria and 100 aircraft left. No obstacles are placed by the CC on the movement of American representatives on the territory of Bulgaria as well as on the territories of Hungary and Rumania. The Soviet military authorities in Bulgaria, in accordance with the existing statute of the CC, have only asked the representatives of the US to inform the Soviet authorities in good time of the itinerary and time of such trips which American officials have sometimes not done.

“With regard to the work of the ACCs, in Hungary and Rumania, the Soviet representatives there have concerted (“Soglasovyvali”) with the representatives of the USA with plans of work of the ACCs, have consulted with them on the main questions in the discussion of which at ACC sessions the American representatives have taken active part. It is known that such questions as elections to the Hungarian Parliament, the expulsion of Germans from Hungary, the reduction of armies, UNRRA assistance, the arrest and trial of Hungarian war criminals and a number of other questions were considered by the ACCs with the participation of the representatives of the USA and Great Britain. In Rumania, for example, four sessions of the ACC devoted to economic problems of Rumania have recently been held together with representatives of the USA and England.

“All requests of American representatives for flights of aircraft into Hungary and Rumania with the exception of several cases for Rumania have been fully satisfied.

“From the foregoing it follows that the work of the Allied Control Commissions in Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania has been set up in accordance with the decisions agreed upon at the Berlin Conference for a revision of the Allied Control Commission procedure and by virtue of this the Soviet Govt cannot agree with the statements made on this subject by the Govt of the USA.

“At the same time the Soviet Govt for its part considers it necessary to invite the attention of the Govt of the US to the position of the Soviet representative on the Allied Commission for Italy. The decisions of the Allied Commission for Italy on questions of principle not only are not concerted (“Soglasovyvayutsya”) with the Soviet representative but the Soviet representative is not even informed in time of the decisions adopted by the AC on questions of principle. Such important decisions of the AC for Italy as the reorganization of the AC, the transfer of the northern provinces and also the islands and ports to the Italian Govt, the transfer to UNRRA of the economic functions of the AC, the permitting of the Italian Govt to form a transitional period army and others have been adopted without preliminary consultation and concerting (“Soglasovaniya”) with the Soviet representative. The Soviet representative and his colleagues on the AC for Italy are almost wholly deprived of the opportunity to make trips in Italy to regions located over 50 kilometers from Rome.

“The Soviet Govt regards such a situation as utterly abnormal and expresses the hope that the Govt of the USA will take measures without delay to establish proper conditions for the work of the Soviet representative on the Allied Commission for Italy.”

Sent Dept. 940, repeated to Budapest 20, Bucharest 25, Sofia 26, Rome 24.

[

Kennan

]

80. Telegram 939, March 25, 1946, from Moscow, explained that the message quoted in this telegram was a translation of Deputy Foreign Minister Vyshinsky’s letter of March 22 in reply to the Embassy’s note of February 21 to the Soviet Government regarding procedures in the Allied Control Commissions. The Embassy’s note of February 21 had been sent in pursuance of the instructions in telegram 295, February 15, to Moscow, p. 74. Vyshinsky’s letter contained the following introductory paragraph not appearing in this telegram: “In connection with your letter of February 21 addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov on the question of the Allied Control Commissions in Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary, I have been commissioned to inform yon of the following.”
81. Not printed.