811.3361/24: Telegram
The Soviet Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Litvinov) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:15 p.m.]
132. The Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is in receipt of a report from the authorities of Kamchatka to the effect that in September last the United States warship Bear entered Kolyuchin [Bay?] in the Sinaeva Gulf without permission from the Soviet authorities. A similar report has been received from the authorities of Batum stating that on the 15th of January the American destroyer number 223 entered that port without permission.
[Page 682]In view of the fact that the circumstances under which the above-mentioned ships entered Soviet harbors constitute a violation of the universally recognized rules governing the entrance of warships into foreign ports, the Government of the Soviet Socialist Republics finds itself obliged to protest against such action on the part of ships under the direct control of the United States Government and expects that the United States Government, professing the necessity of strict observation of international laws, will take proper measures to avert the repetition of such incidents in the future.