741.61/779: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Grummon) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 19—2 p.m.]
393. My 378, July 10, 10 [3] p.m.27 The meeting between the French and British Ambassadors, Strang and Molotov which took place on July 17 was reported in the press yesterday without comment beyond a statement that “protracted negotiations” took place.
A member of the British Embassy has stated that the latest meeting marked little or no progress towards a final solution of outstanding [Page 287] points and indicated that the points of difference centered primarily around the definition of indirect aggression in respect of the Baltic States and the matter of the chronology of military conventions with relation to the political agreement. The impression was received that although each meeting has narrowed the gap between the Soviet and Franco-British positions on the points at issue the British negotiators themselves were still very much in doubt as to the ultimate intentions of the Soviet Government in respect of an alliance with England and France.
In respect of the general question of Soviet adherence to the anti-German front it is of some interest to note that members of the German Embassy who until recently were of the opinion that the Soviet Union would in the last resort sign some sort of an agreement with England and France are now openly confident that the Soviet Union will not align itself with England and France against Germany on the ground that the Soviet Union will not be disposed to run the risk of unnecessary war with Germany by openly aligning itself with the latter’s enemies which would have the effect of directing German animosity against the Soviet Union. Insofar as I have been able to ascertain there are no specific grounds for this change in opinion in German circles here, although members of that Embassy here state in confidence that vague intimations of a Soviet reluctance to conclude an agreement with England and France have been conveyed by Soviet diplomats abroad to their German colleagues. It is possible also that the comparatively favorable reception given by Molotov to the observation of the German Ambassador (see my telegram No. 359 July 1, 9 [10] a.m.28) may have had a certain effect in determining the views of the German Embassy here.