740.00119 E.W./7–2645: Telegram
No. 938
The Acting
Secretary of State to the Representative on the
Allied Commission on Reparations (Pauley)1
131. (For Pauley.)
For your information British Embassy handed this Government a memorandum2 suggesting the possibility of constituent republics of the Soviet Union entering separate reparation claims and seeking separate representation on an Inter-Allied Reparation Commission. The British Government expresses the view that if these issues are raised by the Soviet Government (a) separate claims on behalf of Soviet Republics other than White Russia and the Ukraine should be resisted; (b) separate claims on behalf of White Russia and the Ukraine should be entertained on ground of the San Francisco precedent,3 if otherwise agreement with Soviet Union might be delayed indefinitely. Separate allocations to these republics should not be additional to the amount otherwise agreed at Moscow for the Soviet Union as a whole, (c) Separate claims on behalf of the Baltic States should not be entertained.
This Government’s reply2 states that it would be premature to attempt now to meet these contingencies since there is at present no indication of whether and in what form these questions may be raised and that this Government will state its policy on these matters when and if the Soviet Government introduces them into the discussions at Moscow.