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  Selected Secret Documents from Soviet Foreign Policy Documents Archives - 1919 to 1941

Concentrated on 1st and  2nd WW Correspondence and Meetings related to Turkey, Balkans and Iran, with some additions from Afghanistan and India.

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From; talk of the plenipotentiary representative of the USSR in the Great Britain I.M. Maisky with the minister of foreign affairs of the

Great Britain

Sent to comrade Molotov, comrade Vyshinsky

January 29, 1941 secret

.....

3) then the conversation turned to current political issues. Eden said that in Africa, the British are now ʺin orderʺ and for Egypt he no longer worries. But he is very confused by the situation in the Balkans. Eden again spoke about the systematic ʺinfiltrationʺ of the Germans into Bulgaria and asserted that there were already 10 German divisions in Romania. At the same time, the number of German troops in Romania is increasing more and more. Speaking about the Balkans, Eden asked me if we were maintaining our previous position with regard to the Balkans, as I described it in a conversation with him a month ago. I replied that our position remains unchanged. Then Eden asked me if Turkey, in the event of any danger, could be sure that it would not face any unpleasant surprises from the USSR. I replied that Eden’s question seemed somewhat strange to me. He should be aware that our relations with Turkey are friendly in nature and we are not going to change this character. Eden listened to my answer with visible relief and then said: “if Turkey were attacked, it would be my desire for the USSR to practice the same ʹnon‐interferenceʹ policy towards Turkey as it did towards Spain. Maybe I want too much, but at least thatʹs what I would like. ʺ I replied that it is now difficult to say what position the Soviet government would take in the hypothetical case that Eden is talking about. This would depend on many such circumstances, which are now difficult to take into account in advance.

...........

Molotov.

I. Maisky avp rf, f. 069, on. 25, p. 71, d. 6, l. 19‐23.