761.6211/267: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 20—1:52 p.m.]
780. My 649, September 29, 10 a.m.55 Tass announcement published in the leading Moscow newspapers this morning reports the ratification by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet-German Treaty of Friendship and Frontiers of September 28 and the supplementary protocol of October 4.56
The ratification of the Soviet-German treaty at this time is apparently designed to reaffirm Soviet-German friendship validated following the Soviet failure with Turkey and may be an indication of closer collaboration referred to in the last paragraph of my 776, October 19, 6 p.m.57 In this connection a member of the German Embassy as his personal opinion [expressed?] the view that the failure of the Soviet Union and Turkey to reach an agreement reflects Soviet “loyalty” to its commitments to Germany, as the Soviet Union could without difficulty have obtained an agreement with Turkey which would have been in accordance with Soviet interests, but not in keeping with the spirit of present German-Soviet relations. He denied categorically that Germany had exerted any pressure on the Soviet Government in respect to the Turkish negotiations and said that Germany had been careful to leave the question of an agreement with Turkey to the Soviet Government alone. He was quite frank in stating, however, that Turkey was now definitely aligned with England and France, but added that in view of the increasing Soviet-German collaboration the position of Turkey had been rendered more “precarious” as a result. My informant expressed the opinion that under the present circumstances, the Soviet Union would proceed very cautiously in regard to Bessarabia.