Answers to Questions of the General European Director of the International News Agency

Berlin, Disarmament, Stalin-Truman Meeting
*

January 27, 1949

[Interview with Kingsbury Smith, representative of International News Service, January 27, 1949]

Question
: Would the government of the U.S.S.R. be prepared to
consider the issuance of a joint declaration with the government of the United States of America, asserting that the respective governments have no intention of resorting to war against one another? Answer
: The Soviet government would be prepared to consider the issuance of such a declaration. Question
: Would the government of the U.S.S.R, be prepared to
join with the government of the United States of America in measures designed to implement this pact of peace, such as gradual disarmament? Answer
: Naturally, the government of the U.S.S.R. could
cooperate with the government of the United States of America in taking measures designed to implement this pact of peace and leading to gradual disarmament.
Question
: If the governments of the United States of America,
the United Kingdom, and France agreed to postpone the establishment of a separate Western German state, pending a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers to consider the German problem as a whole, would the Government of the U.S.S.R. be prepared to remove the restrictions which the Soviet authorities have imposed on communications between Berlin and the Western zones of Germany?
Answer
: Provided the United States of America, Great Britain,
and France observe the conditions set forth in the third question, the Soviet government sees no obstacles to lifting transport restrictions, on the understanding, however, that transport and trade restrictions introduced by the three Powers should be lifted simultaneously. Question
: Would Your Excellency be prepared to confer with
President Truman at a mutually suitable place to discuss the possibility of concluding such a pact of peace?
Answer
: I have already stated before that there is no objection to a meeting. (For Peaceful Coexistence: Post War Interviews, International Publishers, New York, 1951)