361.1121/7–2547
The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs (Vyshinsky) to the American Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith)1
Dear Mr. Ambassador: Acknowledging the receipt of your note of August 22 of this year regarding the question of the departure from the Soviet Union of various persons named in your letter of August 5 and in your conversation with me of that date,2 I must draw your attention to the fact that in the indicated letter and conversation you [Page 740] named forty-four persons, the checking of whose cases will obviously require a considerable time, and, in any event, a longer time than that which has expired since my receipt of your letter and the conversation which took place between us. I must also add that the indicated cases, broken down by you into four categories, appear rather complicated and intricate, as for example, in the case of Viki Eipukt,3 discussed in your letter of August 5 and your remarks in the conversation with me of the same date, the Embassy itself has no certainty of the incontestability of her American citizenship.
Under these circumstances there is no basis for any preconceived interpretation whatsoever of the position of the Soviet Government in regard to the indicated cases and even less for any misplaced deduction that American citizens are detained in the Soviet Union in contravention of accepted principles of international law and custom bearing upon the treatment of citizens of friendly powers.
It cannot be unknown to you that the detainment in this matter occurs in consequence of the fact that the Soviet authorities dispute the American citizenship of some or others of these persons. In addition, a significant part of the persons indicated by you are not, according to the data of the appropriate, competent organs, located on the territory of the Soviet Union and, consequently, there can be in general no question of delay in granting these persons exit visas.
An answer regarding the points of the cases broached in your letters of August 5 and 22 will be given to you after the conduct of a careful investigation.
Accept [etc.]
- Filed as an enclosure with despatch 1581 from Moscow on August 28.↩
- On August 22, Ambassador Smith sent to the
Department in despatch 1572 from Moscow, not printed, the copy of
another letter which he had written on that day to Vyshinsky. The
Ambassador recalled several cases of American citizens who were not
being granted permits to leave the Soviet Union which he had
discussed more than two weeks ago, and those whom he had included in
his second letter of August 5. No word had yet been received whether
exit visas had been granted to them. Now an additional, similar case
of an American citizen, Francisco Fernandez, who had also been
refused an exit visa was called to Vyshinsky’s notice. Ambassador
Smith concluded his letter of August 22 with these observations:
“I must insist that immediate action be taken to accord Soviet exit visas without further delay to the American citizens mentioned above and to others in like circumstances.
“Because of the importance winch my Government attaches to this matter, I again request your personal and immediate intervention.” (361.1121/8–647)
↩ - Referred to in Ambassador Smith’s first letter of August 5 as Vaiki Aipuk.↩