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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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Recording of the conversation of the  ambassador of the USSR in Turkey  Vinogradov with the minister of foreign affairs of Turkey s.Saracoglu

October 15, 1941 Soviet secret

I visited Saracoglu, to whom I conveyed on the instructions of the peopleʹs commissar for foreign affairs, comrade Molotov, about the intention of the Soviet government to transfer some ships from the black sea to the white sea.

After listening carefully and carefully writing everything down, Saracoglu asked me if the two icebreakers I had mentioned were on the list of auxiliary vessels in our navy.

I said that I do not think so, since these ships are usually used to escort merchant ships. I added that I could clarify this issue, but the minister said that he himself would check whether these vessels are on the list of auxiliary vessels. Saracoglu said that the clarification of this issue is necessary because, as is known, not so long ago, the Italians were denied passage through the straits of the Tarvisio vessel, which was previously an auxiliary vessel of the Italian fleet. In this connection, the minister repeated the story of the Tarvisio to me.

Saracoglu then asked why the transfer of eight tankers was necessary.

I pointed out that tankers are needed to transport oil to the northern regions of the Soviet Union.

The minister said that he would give instructions to study this issue and do everything in his power to resolve it favorably.

I asked the minister to keep this plan a secret until it is implemented.

Saracoglu promised this, pointing out that he fully understood that disclosing this case would jeopardize our ships, as German and Italian aircraft would wait for them over the Dardanelles.

When I asked whether the minister considered a favorable resolution of this case possible, he replied that he considered it quite possible if the icebreakers were not included in the lists of auxiliary vessels. Saracoglu added that he would try to give me an answer today, or at least tomorrow.

I said that together with the response of the Turkish government, it would be desirable to know what kind of oil products Turkey would like to receive. Thanking for the kind promise of the Soviet government to give Turkey oil products. Saracoglu replied that he would clarify the question I had raised; the minister added that it would obviously be possible to agree on quantity and prices as well. I have confirmed this.

Referring to the situation at the fronts, Saracoglu said that, in his opinion, the situation there is not bad. In the last 48 hours. There is some improvement. The Germans, in any case, did not achieve the results they expected. Saracoglu then pointed out that Aktay informed him of the exceptional calmness observed in Moscow; life and work are going on there quite normally, as if this city is in a state not affected by the war.

I noted that all the employees arriving from the Soviet Union to Ankara tell me the same thing. Our people remain completely calm, because they are confident of victory over fascism, despite all the difficulties of the current struggle.

I then inquired about the ministerʹs opinion on the speech published yesterday by the German ambassador Von Papen in Izmir.

I pointed out that I found it odd to say that the fate of Turkey was also defended by Germany on the eastern front.

Saracoglu said that such statements have become traditional in the speeches of German leaders. Hitler, according to the minister, also used such expressions in his last speeches. The minister added that he cannot, of course, regulate what the ambassadors accredited in Turkey say in their public speeches.

Vinogradov wua rf. F‐ 06. On. 3. L. 22.d. 300. L. 58‐59.