740.0011 European War 1939/12451: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 25—1 p.m.]
1213. I have learned from a reliable source that the Finnish Chargé d’Affaires stated yesterday that the Finnish Government was resisting [Page 42] the most severe pressure from Germany to join in the attack on the Soviet Union. The Chargé said that he personally was opposed to such attack and believed that the wisest course for his Government to pursue would be immediately to state to the Soviet Government that Finland would not participate in the war provided certain territories ceded to the Soviet Union at the close of the Soviet-Finnish war in 1940 were returned to Finland.
The Finnish Chargé also stated that although he understood the Finnish-Soviet frontier to be closed, he was reliably informed that no attack had been made by Finnish troops on Soviet outposts or vice versa.