861.24/7–1344: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 13—11:40 a.m.]
2539.…
I believe the Department should bear in mind that in my informal talk with Mikoyan last November on the question of Soviet requirements for relief supplies, Mikoyan made it clear, as I then reported, that he appeared to view the question from the standpoint of whether asking for supplies for relief from lend-lease or UNRRA would mean increased allocations of shipping.
I have just learned from the President’s Protocol Committee that in connection with the Soviet request for shipment of 7 million tons for the Fourth Protocol we are offering a minimum commitment of 5,400,000 tons with an undertaking to ship additional tonnage if it is found possible. It would seem therefore that the basic problem of relief supplies is not one of supplies but one of shipping.
It would also be helpful to receive a reply to the other two questions raised in my cable before the meeting with Vyshinski.94
- Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky, Assistant People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs.↩