Office of the Historian

861.24557H/2–1947: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith) to the Secretary of State

secret
priority
Moscow, February 19, 1947—6 p. m.

462. Norwegian Ambassador1 informs me report that Secretary General of Norwegian Foreign Office visited Moscow is incorrect.2 Official [Page 1016] was a secretary of Foreign Office carrying in a sealed envelope for Mr. Molotov, reply of Foreign Office after consultation with Storting on the matter of Spitsbergen. In event this reply has not been communicated to the Department from Oslo, gist is that Norwegian Government finds it impossible to consider revision of present treaty on bilateral basis and that any changes would of necessity be made as result of consultation among all signatories. Also that any modification of military aspect would presumably be considered within the framework of UN.

Smith
  1. Hans C. Berg.↩
  2. Ambassador Smith relayed the information to the Department in his telegram 435, February 18, 1947, 5 p. m., not printed, that Secretary General Andvord had arrived in Moscow on the night of the 17th to discuss the question of Spitzbergen (861.24557H/2–1847). By telegram 470, February 20, 11 a. m., not printed, he advised the Department that telegram 462 was highly confidential and requested that the news contained in it should not be passed on in an information telegram nor given wide distribution within the Department itself (861.24557H/2–2047).↩