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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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Conversation of the temporary attorney in the affairs of the USSR in the kingdom of Greece A. Ilazareva with the prime minister of the kingdom of Greece I. Metaxas

Sent to comrade Molotov, general secretariat

November 7, 1940

Secret

............

Turkey is an ally of Greece in the Balkans, but at present it is not known about the nature of the assistance it will provide to Greece, this is being negotiated.

Relations between Greece and Yugoslavia are friendly.

Until recently, relations with Bulgaria were friendly, but now these relations have begun to deteriorate slightly, as rumors circulate in Bulgarian circles about Bulgariaʹs intention to reach the Aegean Sea in the Kavala region *.

In conclusion, Metaxas touched upon rumors that Germany allegedly demanded from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia the unhindered passage of German troops into Greek territory. He stated that all these rumors are groundless, that neither Yugoslavia nor Bulgaria received such demands from Germany. Also fictitious is the message of the Bulgarian newspaper ʺVremyaʺ that, allegedly, the Greek government appealed to Germany with a request to act as a mediator in the Italian‐Greek war. Metaxas stressed that there can be no talk of any negotiations, that the Greeks will fight with all determination for their independence, for the expulsion of the enemy from their territory.

The conversation ended there.

Lazarev avp rf, f. 084, on. 22, p. 132, d. 5, l. 11‐13.