The German Chargé in the Soviet Union (Tippelskirch) to the German
Foreign Office
Telegram
very urgent secret
Moscow, October 4, 1940—10:40 p.m. Received October 5, 1940—6:30 a. m.
No.2095 of October 4
Reference your telegram of the 2d, No. 1787.
For the Reich Minister personally.
Molotov received me today at 6 p. m., after he had at first asked me to call at 5; when I drove into the Kremlin I met the English Ambassador in his car. Molotov apologized upon greeting me, for having had to change the time of the visit because of pressure of business.
To the communications I made in accordance with instructions Molotov made the following remarks.
I. German-Finnish Agreements.
Under the German-Russian accord, Finland, as we knew, belonged to the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. The interest of the Soviet Union in the agreement was therefore understandable and for this reason the Soviet Union wanted to be duly informed. The Soviet Government was anxious, if possible, to be given additional, more detailed information about the German-Finnish agreement, especially regarding the number of German troops involved and the duration of the agreement (whether meant for a single action or for a longer period?), and also whether all the German troops would go only to Kirkenes.
To my query as to whether the Soviet Government had not also been informed by the Finnish Government, Molotov replied in the negative and added that the Finnish Government had informed him "at about the time of the publication of the report", but it had not yet replied to the questions addressed to it.
I told Herr Molotov that I would communicate his wish to Berlin and remarked that, as far as I knew, it was not our intention to retain German troops in Finland and that, moreover, the agreement was conditional upon the threat to Kirkenes by England.
Upon his request, I left with Herr Molotov the text of the four points.
II. Three Power Pact.
Herr Molotov: The Soviet Government would have to examine the matter closely since my communications contained views of the German Government with regard to the interpretation of articles 3 and 4 of the German-Soviet Nonaggression pact. He could, therefore, say nothing further on this at the moment.
Tippelskirch
Source: Nazi-Soviet relations 1939-1941. Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office. Washington, Department of State, publication 3023, 1948. (Also in Documents on German foreign policy, Series D, XI, Nr. 148, HMSO, London 1961)
Auf deutsch.