Much as I should like to react favourably to Mr Churchill's message about the Poles - a message you are familiar with - I feel obliged to say that the Polish emigre Government does not want normal relations with the U.S.S.R. Suffice it to say that the Polish emigres in London not only reject the Curzon Line,
they also claim Lvov,
and Vilna, the Lithuanian capital.

All I can say is that the time is not yet ripe for a solution of the problem of Polish-Soviet relations. For your information I enclose my reply to Mr Churchill on this matter.

March 3, 1944

From Premier J. V. Stalin to the Prime Minister, Mr W. Churchill Both messages of February 20 on the Polish question reached me through Mr Kerr on February 27. Now that I have read the detailed record of your conversations with the leaders of the Polish emigre Government, I am more convinced than ever that men of their type are incapable of establishing normal relations with the U.S.S.R. Suffice it to point out that they, far from being ready to recognise the Curzon Line, claim both Lvov and Vilna. As regards the desire to place certain Soviet territories under foreign control, we cannot agree to discuss such encroachments, for, as we see it, the mere posing of the question is an affront to the Soviet Union. I have already written to the President that the time is not yet ripe for a solution of the problem of Soviet-Polish relations. I am compelled to reaffirm the soundness of this conclusion.

March 3, 1944