143. Gorodetsky, “Churchill’s Warning”; Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 118–9.
144. “Nakanune voiny (1940–1941 gg.),” 206–7. On March 24, Cripps advised indirect disclosure to Moscow of the coming German-Soviet war via the Turkish or Chinese ambassadors to the Soviet ambassador in London, Maisky, but his proposal was not immediately acted upon.
145. According to the Soviet report, Cripps also stated that if faced with possible U.S. entry into the war on Britain’s side, Germany might seek a peace deal with London involving the restoration of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in exchange for German capture of the USSR. Primakov, Ocherki, III: 472–3 (TsA FSB).
146. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 155–78. Soviet self-isolation was severe: whereas in 1937, Intourist, the Soviet state travel agency, had handled just 13,000 foreign passport holders who came to the USSR and in 1938, 5,000; in 1939–41 it had 3,000 customers, the majority of them from Germany. Dvornichenko, Nekotorye aspekty funktsionirovaniia industrii turizma, 23; Orlov and Kressova, “Inostrannyi turizm v SSSR,” 163. Zhdanov noted at a meeting at Intourist that wherever foreigners could be expected to congregate, such as hotels and restaurants, “the general course of the Central Committee is not to allow Soviet inhabitants [grazhdan] into these places.” Golubev, “Esli mir obrushitsia na nashu Respubliku,” 80 (citing RGASPI, f. 17, op. 125, d. 11, l. 1).
147. Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 123 (citing FO 371 29479 N1573/78/38 Cripps to London, April 12, 1941).
148. Cripps was informed by Vyshinsky on April 23 that the message had been passed to Stalin. Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 124 (citing FO 371 29480 N1725/78/38 Cipps to London, April 22, 1941); Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 155–78; Churchill, Second World War, III: 316, 319–23; Woodward, British Foreign Policy, I: 606–7; Zhilin, Kak fashistskaia Germaniia gotovila napadenie, 219.
149. Cripps did write that “at the moment there is no question whatever if the possibility of such a negotiated peace as far as His Majesty’s Government are concerned.” Still, his frustration-filled unauthorized memo contradicted government policy. Woodward, British Foreign Policy, I: 607–9; Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 126–7 (citing FO 371 29465 N1828/3/38); Naumov, 1941 god, II: 91–6 (AVP RF, f. 07, op. 2, pap. 9, d. 20, l. 34–6); Miner, Between Churchill and Stalin, 119–22. The Soviets, by April 26, had a copy of Eden’s telegram to Cripps (sent April 17, received at the British embassy in Moscow the 18th): Primakov, Ocherki, III: 473–5 (TsA FSB, f. 3 os, op. 8, d. 56, l. 903–6). On May 5, the NKGB sent to Stalin, Molotov, and Beria the April 30, 1941, telegrams from Cripps to the foreign office (obtained in London) in which Cripps alluded to Hitler’s likely forthcoming demands on the Soviet Union.
150. Gavrilov, Voennaia razvedka informiruet, 416–7 (TsAMO, f. 23, op. 24127, d. 2, l. 198–9: March 11, 1941). Matsuoka’s rivals would have seen his trip as reckless grandstanding at a dangerous moment. Such a trip was facilitated by the Trans-Siberian (otherwise a trip by boat, via the Suez, would have lasted many months).
151. Presseisen, Germany and Japan, 291, citing International Military Tribunal, XXIX: 292–3. Hitler did not inform Japan of the timing of Barbarossa and did not consider Japan’s assistance necessary. He would learn from Ott’s reports, partly based on Sorge’s information, that Japan would not fulfill his wishes of attacking Singapore. Menzel, “German-Japanese Relations,” 57; DGFP, series D, XII: 931–2 (May 18, 1941, 967–70 (June 6).
152. Izvestiia, April 15, 1941; Tisminets, Vneshniaia politika SSSR, IV: 549–51; Chihiro, “Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact”; DVP SSSR, XXX/i: 403, XXX/ii: 111–2, 118. Tikhvinskii, “Zakliuchenie sovetsko-iaponskogo pakta o neitralitete”; Slavinskii, Pakt o neitralitete mezdu SSSR i Iaponiei, 91–5; Slavinsky, Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact. In the Sino-Soviet nonaggression pact, Moscow had promised not to sign a nonaggression pact with Japan until Sino-Japanese relations were normalized. Ledovskii et al., Russko-kitaiskie otnosheniia, IV: 583 (AVP RF, f. 3, op. 65, d. 355, l. 42).
