611.6131/512: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 25—4:44 p.m.]
201. Department’s 108, July 20, 6 p.m.,21 and previous. I had occasion to speak with Litvinov today and, after describing the difficulties which the Embassy has been experiencing in obtaining some statement from the Foreign Office on the renewal of the commercial agreement, asked him if steps could not be taken to expedite the conversations in regard to this matter which had now been delayed for over 6 weeks. I added that the present arrangement would lapse in about 10 days and that failure to effect some renewal would cause many complications and would furthermore jeopardize the benefits accruing by virtue of the agreement.
Litvinov repeated the statement that the Foreign Office had not yet been able to obtain the views of the responsible Soviet authorities but that a reply from them was expected at any moment and said that once their views were communicated to the Foreign Office he saw no reason why the matter should not be settled very quickly. Although he insisted upon the latter point, I gathered that the Foreign Office is considering the possibility of requesting that the present agreement be prolonged for 1 or 2 months pending the negotiation of a new agreement and accordingly I should appreciate receiving the Department’s views on such a request in the event that it should be made. As a matter of tactics, however, I should refrain from entertaining a proposal along that line unless further delay renders absolutely impossible the conclusion of a new arrangement before the expiration of the present agreement.
- Not printed.↩