860N.00/241a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
1449. Despatches this morning quote the Soviet paper War and Working Class as raising the question about the status of the Baltic States and condemning some individuals or persons in this country, who may or may not know anything about the subject, for alleged adverse comment on the Baltic boundary question to the Soviet Government.46 This sort of controversy without any reference to its merits in any way, if kept up now and during the war by individuals in both countries will in the first place accomplish nothing good for either country, but what is much worse, it will play into the hands of the trouble-makers in this country with damaging effects on the splendid relations now existing between the two countries, and above all upon the great international cooperative movement and programs [Page 612] that are being carried forward by our and other nations and which must at all hazards be carried forward to a successful goal. This subject was not mentioned by anybody at Moscow and furthermore this Government and the British Government, I believe, have said that any and all boundary questions—and there are more than 30 in Europe—must necessarily await the termination of the fighting. The result is that nobody interested in the Baltic or other similar questions would suffer the least prejudice either way by pursuing the policy announced by the British and the United States Governments of awaiting the end of the fighting with respect to all such controversies. If you can tactfully get this view before the Soviet Government, it would be calculated to avoid what may soon become serious crimination and recrimination among irresponsible elements in this country, and perhaps in Russia, which would soon grow out of ordinary proportions.
- This article, written by Yustas Ignovich Paletskis (Paleckis), the President (Chairman) of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, appeared in issue No. 14, December 15, 1943, of the periodical. A summary of its contents was sent by Ambassador Harriman in telegram No. 2321, December 24 (not printed). In the Embassy’s comment it was pointed out that “The unusually sharp and at times violent tone of this article … is probably preparation for the moment, which may not be far off, when the Soviet armies reach the Baltic countries. The Soviet Government presumably anticipating certain difficulties before world opinion over this question is therefore re-emphasizing the Soviet position in the Baltic States and is laying down in advance the propaganda line to deal with any critics of its policy.” (860N.01/98)↩