396.1–PA/6–2051
The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the Government of the United States of America 1
The Government of the USSR, having examined the note of the Government of the United States of America of June 152 on the subject of the current negotiations of the four powers in Paris considers it necessary to state the following: In its note of June 4, 19513 the Soviet Government stated that it is prepared to send without delay its representative to the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Washington as soon as the conference of the Deputy Foreign Ministers in Paris will favorably resolve the question of the inclusion in the agenda of the item regarding the Atlantic Treaty and military [Page 1160] bases of the US. The Soviet Government considers necessary the inclusion of this item in the agenda of the CFM in the form of a disagreed item proceeding from the fact that firstly the American military bases and Atlantic Treaty are the principal cause of the tense situation in Europe and secondly the Government of the US, as well as the Government of Great Britain and France also recognize the necessity of alleviating the tense situation in Europe.
The meeting of the preliminary session of the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs for the four powers in Paris has shown that the representatives of the US, Great Britain and France entirely groundlessly make the convocation of the CFM conditional upon the renunciation by the Soviet Government of its proposal to discuss the question of the Atlantic Treaty and military bases of the US. However, in refusing to accept the proposal made by the Soviet Government to include on the agenda the question regarding the Atlantic Treaty and American military bases when all the questions without exception, which were proposed for discussion for the meeting of the Ministers by the representatives of the three powers were included on the agenda with the full consent of the Soviet representative, the three powers thereby put the Soviet Union in a position of inequality. It is quite clear that the Soviet Government cannot reconcile itself to the position of inequality in which the representatives of the three powers want to place it. The Soviet Government is surprised that the representatives of the three powers are afraid to give their consent to a consideration of the question of the Atlantic Treaty at the CFM. As it is known the Soviet Government has pacts of mutual assistance with China, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Finland, and finally with France and England. The Soviet Government has no objections whatsoever to the consideration of any of these pacts at the CFM should the powers so desire.
Therefore the Soviet Government cannot understand why the three Western powers refuse to take the same path and do not wish to include on the agenda the question of the Atlantic Treaty and military bases, for this is not a matter of empty curiosity but one of alleviating the tense situation and facilitating the task of the preservation of peace.
The Soviet Government states again that it is seeking a frank consideration of all the causes which give rise to the tense situation in Europe. The Soviet Government considers it necessary for the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs to continue their meeting in Paris in order to reach agreement on the basis of equal rights of the participants on the agenda for the CFM, having in mind the inclusion (in the form of a disagreed item) of the question regarding the Atlantic Treaty and Military Bases of the US, since this question is the most important one of the liquidation of the tense situation in Europe.
- The source text was transmitted to Washington as preliminary material for a teletype conference held on June 20 (396.1–PA/6–2051). For another translation, see Folliot, Documents on International Affairs, 1951, pp. 262–263. The Russian text of the note, which was presented to the Western Representives at the 73d session of the Four-Power Talks on June 20, is in file 396.1–PA/6–1951.↩
- Supra.↩
- Transmitted in telegram 7473, June 4, p. 1150.↩