Office of the Historian

861.20211 Gubitchev, Valentine/4–3049

[Translation]

The Embassy of the Soviet Union to the Department of State

No. 49

The Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics refers to the Department of State’s Aide-Mémoire of April 28, 1949 concerning the arrest of the Soviet diplomat V. A. Gubichev by American authorities and, upon instructions from the Soviet Government, has the honor to state the following:

The Soviet Government notes that, in the above-mentioned Aide-Mémoire of the Department of State, arguments have been repeated which were set forth in the Aide-Mémoire of the Department of State of March 24, 1949 and were refuted documentarily in the Embassy’s note no. 31 dated March 30, 1949.

There is likewise noted the statement contained in the Aide-Mémoire of the Department of State dated April 28, 1949 to the effect that, although the Department of State is aware of the note of the Foreign Ministry of the U.S.S.R. dated June 13, 1946,1 in which an entry visa was requested for V. A. Gubichev as a member of the Secretariat of the United Nations, the Department of State nevertheless “supposed” that the visa was requested for a member of the Soviet delegation in the United Nations.

Such an unfounded “supposition” concerning the status of a Soviet diplomat in the territory of the U.S.A., which arose in spite of the accurate information concerning V. A. Gubichev’s status on his passport and in the Foreign Ministry’s note dated June 13, 1946, is likely to cause astonishment, especially since this “supposition” was expressed almost three years after it originated in the Department of State.

Argumentation of this kind, whereby facts and verified documents are either ignored or distorted, cannot of course justify the arbitrary actions of the American authorities in regard to a Soviet diplomat.

The Soviet Government cannot recognize as convincing or serious arguments those adduced in the Department of State’s Aide-Mémoire dated April 28, 1949 and requests that V. A. Gubichev be immediately released and that this persecution by the American authorities be discontinued.

Washington, April 30, 1949.
  1. Not printed.↩