861.48/1428: Telegram
The High Commissioner at Constantinople ( Bristol ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 17—11.48 a.m.]
133. French authorities inform me that after having sent three shiploads of the Russian Wrangel refugees to Bolshevik ports Odessa and Novorossiisk they are now experiencing difficulty in obtaining Moscow’s consent to further shipments. On last request Moscow informed French admiral here by radio that they would not agree to receiving other refugees until the French Government had negotiated directly with the Moscow government.
French High Commissioner states that even if he succeeds in carrying through all the contemplated measures for breaking up [Page 837] the Crimean refugee army there will remain between 15,000 and 20,000 men largely officers who cannot be returned to Soviet Russia. He expressed the hope that the United States would be able to help either in supporting these men or in receiving a part in the United States.