Office of the Historian

741.61/890: Telegram

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, May 29, 1940—11 p.m.
[Received May 29—8:25 p.m.]

600. Embassy’s telegram No. 584, May 25.4 A Tass despatch was issued tonight stating that Molotov has instructed Maiski to advise the British Government that the proposed mission to Moscow of Sir Stafford Cripps is unacceptable to the Soviet Government and that if the British Government desires to conduct trade negotiations with the Soviet Government “and not simply confine itself to talk of a nonexistent change in the relations between England and the Soviet Union” it can do so through its Ambassador at Moscow, Mr. William Seeds,5 or in the event that he is not returning to his post, through his successor.

Thurston
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Sir William Seeds, British Ambassador to the Soviet Union since January 1939, who left after the outbreak of the Finnish-Soviet war.↩