51. Telegram From the Office of the High Commissioner for Austria to the Department of State1
2638. I believe Soviets will accept my proposal on Article 35 and French compromise proposal on troop withdrawal in which case all outstanding points can be quickly cleared up.2
I asked Ilyichev privately if he could tell me whether or not Soviets would insist upon decision on guarantees as condition of concluding treaty. He said this had never been their idea and that he had asked for permission to tell me so officially and was awaiting reply. I anticipate that unless there is a hitch conference will have concluded its main work by Monday night with possibly only some drafting remaining although Soviets may still balk at changing Moscow memorandum to allow return to non-German foreign owners.
Kreisky informs me he thinks Austrians will be prepared table their proposed neutrality declaration including UN paragraph on Monday.
Do not believe Ilyichev will discuss it and we do not now propose to put forward proposal that Four Powers agree in advance to accept it. I believe this will be useful for Secretary to have available if necessary.
Austrians do not think Soviets will be difficult on guarantee and in my opinion there is considerable possibility that our second version3 would be acceptable.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–VI/5–655. Secret; Priority. Repeated to London, Paris, and Moscow.↩
- For text of the U.S. proposal on Article 35, see Document 48. For text of the French proposal, see footnote 3, Document 45.↩
- The texts of the two versions of the guarantee were transmitted in Document 40.↩