Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1940, The British Commonwealth, The Soviet Union, The Near East and Africa, Volume III

861.002/190: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, March 6, 1940—noon.
[Received March 6—10:30 a.m.]

246. My telegram No. 228, March 1, 4 p.m. The German Ambassador¹⁶ told me last night in strict confidence that Potemkin’s dismissal had its origin in part in the failure to prevent the Anglo-French-Turkish alliance¹⁷ and that Stalin¹⁸ and Molotov had held Potemkin responsible for the reorientation of Turkish policy away from the Soviet Union. He also said that in his opinion either Sobolev¹⁹ who is at present Secretary General of the Foreign Office, or Lozovski²⁰ would probably succeed Potemkin. Repeated to Ankara.

Steinhardt

16. Friedrich Werner, Count von der Schulenburg.
17. Treaty of Mutual Assistance signed at Ankara on October 19, 1939; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. cc, p. 167.
18. Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Ail-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks); member of the Politburo and Orgburo of the Party, etc.
19. Arkady Alexandrovich Sobolev.
20. Solomon Abramovich Lozovsky, an alternate member of the Executive Committee of the Third (Communist) International, elected at the VII Congress in 1935; appointed an Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union on June 9, 1939.