Selected Secret Documents from Soviet Foreign Policy Documents Archives

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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Some] dir [ektive] you to burl [inn] ride *

[November 9, 1940]

Top secret

V.M [olotov]

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

C) Bulgaria ‐ the main issue of negotiations, should be, by agreement with Germany] and Shtalia], attributed to the sphere of interests of the USSR on the same basis of guarantees of Bulgaria from the USSR, as was done by Germany and Italy in relation to Romania, with the introduction of Soviet troops into Bulgaria.

D) the question of Turkey and its fate cannot be resolved without our participation, since we have serious interests in Turkey.

E) the question of the future fate of Romania and Hungary as bordering the USSR is of great interest to us, and we would like to see an agreement on this.

[f) the question of Iran cannot be resolved without the participation of the USSR, since we have serious interests there. Donʹt talk about it unnecessarily.]

G) with regard to Greece and Yugoslavia, we would like to know what the axis thinks to do?

H) on the question of Sweden, the USSR remains on the position that maintaining the neutrality of this state is in the interests of the USSR and Germany87. Does Germania] remain in the same position?

I) the USSR, as a Baltic state, is interested in the issue of free passage of ships from the Baltic in peacetime and wartime through the m [scarlet] and b [big] belty, Oresund, Kattegat and Skagerrak. It would be nice, following the example of the conference on the Danube, to arrange a conference on this issue from representatives of interested countries.

J) in Svalbard, our coal concession must be operated.

3. Transit Germany ‐ japan ‐ our powerful position, which must be borne in mind.

4. If they ask about our relations with Turkey, say about our answer to the Turks, namely: we told them that the absence of a mutual assistance pact with the USSR does not give them the right to demand help from the USSR.

5. If they ask about our relations with England, then speak in the spirit of an exchange of opinions at st [alinʹs] dacha.

6. To say that we were informed about the peace proposals made by England from Germany through Roosevelt. Is this true and what is the answer?

7. To a possible question about our relations with the united states, answer that the united states is also asking us: can we provide support to Turkey and Iran in the event of a danger to them. We have not yet answered these questions.

......

Archive of the president of the Russian federation, f. 56, on. 1, d. 1161, l. 147‐155.

Publ .: new and contemporary history. ‐ 1995. ‐ no. 4. ‐ p. 77‐79.

From the telegram of the interim attorney of the USSR in France

Ivanov in NKID USSR

November 9, 1940 top secret

Congratulations on the 7th of November Delacha: Chinese and Turkish ambassadors. Pierre Laval sent in his card with a folded left end. On November 8, the Turkish ambassador Erkin visited me. Three days ago, I was visited by the adviser of Yugoslavia * Dukhan Raskovic. The latter is married to the daughter of albert Thomas and has great connections in France.

1. Germany wishes to conclude contact with England. The German command finally abandoned the plan for the invasion of the English isles as an unrealistic plan. The British fleet will not allow a sufficient landing. In addition, the war against England does not give the Germans the agrarian territories that Germany needs. Draskovich believes that Germany is not interested in obtaining the overseas colonies of England, because, without a fleet, the Germans will not be able to keep these colonies, even if she gets them.

2. Germany occupied a number of highly developed industrial countries in Europe with a dense population: Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium, holland, France. Germanyʹs food difficulties have increased significantly thanks to the war, as well as difficulties in industrial] raw materials. The German economy needs agricultural land on the European continent. The occupied countries cannot provide Germany with the food and raw materials it needs. Here again they began to talk intensively about the plans for German expansion to the east, set out in the books of Hitler and rosenberg194.

3. The Turkish ambassador said that the Germans are preparing for a war against the USSR, in particular against Soviet Ukraine, or they will move to Turkey, Baghdad, sues and so on. Until spring, the Germans are unlikely to begin active operations in the east. Many German officers in civilian uniforms arrived in Bulgaria. The German military is preparing the ground in Bulgaria for the passage of German troops. He told me that 105 German divisions were concentrated on the SovietGerman border. The concentration of German troops in eastern Germany is reported from a number of sources. The Germans are recruiting Ukrainians in France, who know the Ukrainian terrain especially well, as well as white guard officers. By order of Rosenberg, the Turgenev library was sent from Paris to berlin195. She had 100 thousand volumes. Lenin, Gorky, Plekhanov used to work in this library. The Germans requisition horses in France, send them to Germany, where they create cavalry units.

Ivanov

Avp rf, f. 059, on. 1, item 328, a. 2253, l. 267‐26