861.00/5719: Telegram

The Minister in Denmark (Hapgood) to the Secretary of State

269. British Chargé d’Affaires brought delegate O’Grady for a long talk last night. Gist of O’Grady’s remarks follows:

Expects negotiations about prisoners to last a week after they begin. If Litvinov brings any armistice proposal, it will take at [Page 124] least another week after that. Probably O’Grady will go to London to report orally and return before final answer is given. He expressed particular interest in neutral zone to prevent propaganda. His personal opinion is that if decision is taken to stop furnishing help to Denikin and Kolchak, it would logically imply raising blockade. Also said he believed it to be a fact that Bolshevik power has been strengthened by existence of war. These are merely his personal views. Outside arrangement for prisoners, he has power only to examine proposal and report.

Hapgood