740.0011 European War 1939/16039: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State

5048. Personal for the Secretary. Knowing that you are following every detail of the situation developing in the Far East, I thought that the conversations which I have had with the Russian Ambassador and with Eden would be of interest to you and perhaps of some help. Last night Maisky asked me to have dinner with him as he wanted to talk with me informally. He is concerned about a possible attack by Japanese in Siberia. He wanted the British Government to join with the United States to warn Japan against an attack upon Russia. I saw Eden today. He was disturbed on similar grounds. The question of a possible sequence of events in which Japan would be tempted to strike against Russia under German pressure, the compromising of England as Russia’s ally, and our own position, all seriously troubled him. Although he recognized that it would not be possible for us under our division of powers and treaty position to issue a joint secret [Page 544] warning with the British to the Japanese and perhaps unwise to issue separate independent public statements challenging Japan because of prestige and “face”, he hoped that if we were continuing conversation with Japanese we would press the Russian cause and he added that the British would be willing to have it said in the conversations that they would support our position. I did not ask concerning precise language because I wanted first to forward the suggestion for your consideration.

Winant