Office of the Historian

704.5561/3: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]79
Moscow, May 25, 1941—4 p.m.
[Received May 26—9 a.m.]

1044.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Insofar as concerns Soviet-German relations, Vyshinski described them as “very friendly” and rejected every suggestion of possible future difficulties. He insisted that there was no possibility of any trouble between the two countries but remarked that, if armed conflict should ever occur, the Soviet Union was quite capable of defending itself—alone and unaided—reminding me that the Soviet Union successfully defended itself the last time “against 12 countries.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Steinhardt
  1. Another part of this telegram, concerned with the detention of Soviet wives of American citizens, is printed on p. 965.↩