Office of the Historian

761.94/7–2145: Telegram

No. 1234
The Japanese Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Sato) to the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (Togo)1
[Translation]
urgent
Moscow, July 25, 1945—11:23 p.m.

1450. Re my telegram No. 1449.2

At the time of my conference with Lozovsky on the 25th, I stated orally as follows (as indicated at the beginning of my telegram,3 the above was to be sent later to L. in written form):

1. At the meeting with you, the Acting People’s Commissar, last July 13th, I delivered the message from the Emperor and also particularly mentioned His Majesty’s desire to dispatch Prince Konoye.4 Concerning the above, I received a reply from you in writing on the night of the 18th to the effect that the Government of the USSR could not give a specific answer because there was nothing concrete either in the message of the Emperor or in the Prince’s mission to Moscow.5

2. Concerning these matters, I once again made my proposal to you today to make the circumstances clear in the following manner:

The mission of special envoy Konoye, entrusted with the Emperor’s request, is to ask the Government of the USSR to assist in the termination of the war and to explain our concrete intentions on this matter; his mission is at the same time to negotiate on matters which will solidify and improve relations between Japan and the USSR, which should become the basis of our diplomacy for the period during and after the war.

3. In addition to stating the foregoing on instructions from our Government to the Government of the USSR, I repeated that the Emperor especially ordered the Government to dispatch the envoy as the result of His Majesty’s wishes to put an end to the tragedy of additional bloodshed from the continued exchange of fire. The special envoy will explain to the Government of the USSR the concrete [Page 1263] intentions of the Japanese relative to the above, and will request its consideration of this matter. Therefore, I hope that the Government of the USSR will give sufficient and favorable consideration to this matter of the envoy and agree to the dispatch of the envoy very soon.

Furthermore, since the Government of the USSR is well aware that ex-Premier Prince Konoye enjoys high trust in the Imperial Court and is prominent in Japanese political circles, I believe it will not be necessary to add my own explanation here.

  1. The statement quoted in this message is presumably the communication read by the Soviet interpreter at the Tenth Plenary Meeting, July 28. See ante, p. 460.↩
  2. Document No. 1235.↩
  3. i. e., in telegram No. 1449.↩
  4. See vol. i, document No. 586.↩
  5. See document No. 1226.↩