601.6111/12–1150
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs (Reinhardt)
Lord Jellicoe1 said that as we knew, the British Government had been studying the question of imposing travel restrictions on Soviet and Soviet satellite diplomats and other representatives in the U.K.2 Although the British Government had decided that this was not the moment to institute such measures, the Cabinet had approval, however, [Page 1273] in advance a set of restrictions so that at any time in the future it was deem useful they could be put into effect without delay. He said that the Embassy had been instructed to provide the Department for its information with a copy of these restrictions (attached3) in accordance with the understanding that the two governments would keep each other informed regarding developments and proposed action in this field. Finally, he inquired as to the latest status of this subject here.
I replied that we were maintaining our restrictions on the Rumanian Legation, but that although we kept the subject constantly under review, there was at the moment no plan to extend travel restrictions to include the Soviet or other satellite missions.4
- Earl Jellicoe was First Secretary in the British Embassy.↩
- For the reimposition of travel restrictions in the Soviet Union by the note of September 30, 1948, and the consideration of the effects of the restrictions upon the travels of Embassy personnel, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. iv, pp. 921–937 passim. The Embassy in the Soviet Union had informed the Department in telegram 1479 on May 25, not printed, that some trouble was ‘being experienced by Embassy officers who had been refused tickets for travel to some “open” areas, but that other applications would be made in the near future. (601.6111/5–2550)↩
- Not printed.↩
- See the unnumbered circular airgram of December 14 on United States policy toward Soviet and satellite representatives in the United States, p. 60.↩