741.6111/4: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8 p.m.]
1336. 1. The British Ambassador told me this morning that his Government has agreed in principle to Stalin’s proposal of a mutual assistance pact with a provision that neither Britain nor the Soviet Union would make a separate peace with Germany, that it is now awaiting the agreement of the Dominions, and that he hopes to receive authority by this evening to conclude the pact. He said that while at the present time he is having some slight trouble in drafting of the pact he does not anticipate any serious difficulty.
2. Cripps said that at his meeting yesterday with Stalin the latter had expressed some concern at the presence of pro-German feeling in some elements of the population and indicated that when the pact with Britain was concluded it would be necessary to undertake considerable propaganda to eradicate pro-German and anti-British feeling. He added that in the course of the conversation, at which Molotov was present, the latter had once or twice attempted to inject questions affecting third countries contiguous to the Soviet Union in which both Britain and the Soviet Union were interested but that Stalin had summarily silenced him.
3. Cripps said that he intended to recommend to London the setting up of an “Anglo-American Soviet Committee” to deal with Soviet requests for material aid.
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