Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

661.80/5–1350

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

restricted
No. 591

Moscow, [May 13, 1950.]

There are enclosed copies in condensed translation of an article captioned “The Struggle of the Russian People for an Outlet to the Black Sea”, which was printed in Red Fleet, April 19, 1950.

This article, which was presented as material for use in political classes, is apparently the official short version of Russia’s historical interest in the Black Sea area—the securing of its entire Black Sea coast line. It will be noted that reference is made only in passing to both the Soviet note to Turkey of September 28, 1946¹ and the view that “the procedure for the passage of ships through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, which was established by the Montreux Convention in 1936,² has ceased to accord with the interests of the Black Sea powers.”

At the end of the article reference is made to alleged Anglo-American activities in the Greco-Turkish and neighboring Balkan areas with a view to creating in the mind of the Soviet reader a picture of aggressive intent by the Western Powers to undermine Soviet defense of the Black Sea Coast. It may be possible to interpret these passages as the opening move toward a renewed Soviet diplomatic and propaganda offensive regarding the Montreux Convention and the Straits. However, from the tone of the article as a whole and from its familiar concluding injunctions about vigilance and the need “to raise the quality of our military and political training”, it would appear that the Red Fleet historical sketch of Soviet interest in the Black Sea is more or less what it purports to be, i.e., indoctrination material for political classes in the Soviet Navy.³

For the Ambassador:

Ray L. Thurston

First Secretary of Embassy

1. For the translated text of the Soviet Union note of September 24, 1946 (published in Moscow on September 28), see Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. vii, pp. 860–866.
2. The Montreux Convention was signed on July 20, 1936; for text, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 213. For documentation on the interest of the United States in the Montreux Conference regarding the regime of the Straits, June 22–July 20, 1936, see Foreign Relations, 1936, vol. iii, pp. 503 ff.
3. In an attached commentary by Harry N. Howard of the Bureau of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs, he remarked: “It is interesting to note that Soviet propaganda, for the past many years, has cited the continuity of Russian imperial policy with that of the Soviet Union, and rather appears to blame Imperial Russia for not achieving its aims!” As his concluding opinion he wrote: “Even for propaganda, I think, the boys ought to do a better job than this! I should think the Turks would not be unduly alarmed by anything of this sort.” (661.80/5–1350)