THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSAR FOR THE INTERIOR CONCERNING U.S. AND WESTERN ATTITUDES TO THE SITUATION IN FINLAND

Nr. 4600/B

October 13, 1939

CC of the VKP(b) Comr. STALIN, the USSR SNK Comr. MOLOTOV, the USSR NKO Comr. VOROSHILOV


On the 10th of October two telegrams from the ambassador in Finland were received in London. What they contained is below.

1. The U.S. ambassador declined giving any advice to the Finns but gave an assurance that any Soviet injury to the rights of Finland will absolutely produce negative effects in the U.S.
The Swedish government promised only moral support to the Finns. The Swedish ambassador sees that the Soviet Union will get all it can take without drifting to a war, and the Finns will cede whatever is needed to avoid an armed conflict.
The ambassador of England tells that neither he can give any advice to the Finnish Foreign Minister.

2. The head of intelligence in the Ministry of the Defense of Finland visited Berlin last week. He tried to find out what side Germany will take in the eventuality of an armed conflict between Finland and the Soviet Union. He came back extremely dissappointed because the Germans did not seem to show any interest in this question.

The People's Commissar for the Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union

L. Beriya    

Source: Puuttuvat dokumentit (missing documents). University of Helsinki, Department of World Cultures, The Russian and East European Studies. Part of the book Tuntematon talvisota. Neuvostoliiton salaisen poliisin kansiot (The Unknown Winter War. The Files of the Soviet Secret Police.). (Ed. Timo Vihavainen and Andrei Sakharov. Edita, 2009) missing doc. nr. 15. This page translated from Finnish by Pauli Kruhse, 2011.

Note.The person described above as the head of intelligence in the Ministry of the Defense of Finland was actually a delegation of three persons from the Finnish-German Society in Finland. It tried to seek audiences with the German leadership. Only Heinrich Himmler accepted to receive them once. The delegation consisted of prominent friends of Germany, Esko Riekki, John Rosberg and P.H. Norrmén. Esko Riekki was the former head of the State Police in Finland. The visit had no effect.

Finland in the Soviet foreign policy 1939-1940