740.00119 Council/6–2049: Telegram
The United States Delegation at the Council of Foreign Ministers to the Acting Secretary of State
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2544. From Jessup. Shortly after 8 o’clock, when the communiqué1 had already been released for publication, we received urgent word from Vyshinsky requesting an immediate meeting.2 When the meeting convened, Vyshinsky said he had just received instructions from Moscow to insist upon insertion of a paragraph in the agreed Austrian communiqué relating to export profits which he had this morning [Page 1039] informed us, could be dropped and left to the Deputies. He urged that the following paragraph be added:
“That Austria shall not put any obstacles in the way of the export of profits or other income (i.e. rents) in the form of production or any freely convertible currency received.” He argued that this paragraph was quite clear and required no further clarification by the Deputies. He insisted that the agreement to Austrian jurisdiction had been contingent upon our agreement to the principle the Soviet Union could export profits. We pointed out that we refused to accept at this hour any paragraph which was as vague and ill-defined as this since he gave us no idea at all what “other income” meant.
We pointed out he had already agreed that the properties retained by the Soviet Union were subject to Austrian jurisdiction in the communiqué which had been made public and if he now withdrew his agreement to this point, it would nullify the entire Austrian agreement. As a last resort, he agreed to let the communiqué stand and to put our suggestion that this paragraph should be “subject to clarification by the Deputies” up to his government in the hope that agreement on this point could be reached through diplomatic channels before the Deputies meet. The nature of his instructions obviously placed him in an embarrassing position as he did not wish to repudiate agreement already announced. Apparently, however, the Soviet Government attaches considerable importance to the right to export other income and may refuse clarification subsequently at the Deputies level.
Sent Department 2544; repeated Vienna 54, London 435.