800.51W89 U.S.S.R./93: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:55 p.m.]
239. In conjunction with your conversations with Troyanovsky it occurs to me that it may be of value to the Department to know that the Soviet Government is now attempting to produce the impression that large credits are available in both France and Germany.
Information derived from the member of the German Embassy in Moscow directly in charge of financial affairs indicates, however, that the Soviet trade representatives in Germany, after having discussed 5-year credits, are now demanding 6-year credits and that there is such reluctance in Germany to extend long credits that little progress is being made.
Soviet sources also are now spreading the story that a loan of approximately $100,000,000 is available in France, that no extra interest for repayment of Czarist debts is demanded by France, that the interest rate is reasonable and that the only question at issue is the proportion of the loan to be spent outside France. Duranty to whom the foregoing story was “fed” doubts its authenticity and has not cabled it suspecting that it is intended to influence you in your negotiations with Troyanovsky.
A secretary of the French Embassy has informed a member of my staff that there is no project for a Soviet loan or a new commercial credit in France. In connection with the rumor that military representatives of the French Government had been discussing credits for the purchase of French war material, he said that he would “guarantee” that there was no truth in such reports.
I suspect, therefore, that Soviet allegations with regard to the generous attitude of France and Germany are exaggerated and reflect the usual Soviet policy of playing off one country against another.
There has been another not unexpected hitch in the negotiations with the Japanese for the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway49 and my general impression is that the Soviet desire to come to an agreement with the United States on the matter of claims and indebtedness has increased rather than diminished.
- For correspondence on this subject, see Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. iii, pp. 3–315, passim.↩