The following is a translation of a declassified Top Secret cipher telegram (dated 21 April 1941) from Soviet resident VADIM [Anatoly Gorsky] in London, using information from Soviet-operated British spy “List” (John Cairncross) about the signing of the neutrality pact between Japan and the USSR. Cairncross had intercepted a telegram from British MP Stafford Cripps that was sent to the British ambassadors in Washington DC and Chongqing. The telegram outlines Cripps’s personal opinion on how things went between the Soviets and Japanese in finally arriving at a pact of neutrality after a good deal of back-and-forth on each side. Clearly, Stalin and Company had more pressing needs going on in the West, what with Germany in the West having kicked off Operation Barbarossa, and felt that an assurance from Japan regarding security in the East was worth the eventual scraping and bowing that took place.
TOP SECRET
Removal of copies prohibited
CIPHER TELEGRAM No. 2688
From LONDON
Received 22 April 1941 at 16:05. Deciphered 22 April 1941 at 22:50.
According to information from agent “List,” on 14 April, [Stafford] CRIPPS said the following in his telegram No. 354 to London: “My assessment of the Russian-Japanese pact is as follows:
“1. Negotiations and hard bargaining continued into Saturday evening, at which time, in light of the conclusion of a neutrality pact, there was broader agreement at its basis. Between the Moscow visits of the Japanese foreign minister, the Russians lowered their demands chiefly as a result of events in Europe and the growing probability of an attack on the USSR.
“2. On Saturday evening, it became clear that the Russians are still asking too high a price, as a result of which the Japanese have already been preparing themselves for a breakdown in the negotiations.
“3. That night, either the Russians or the Japanese proposed to confine themselves to a simple neutrality pact. This could be either because of a desire to save Matsuoka’s prestige, or the Russians’ belief that such a pact would be of particular value in the event of a German attack on the USSR.
“4. This pact was signed yesterday. There was never any doubt whatsoever that, if any sort of agreement could be reached in general, then the recognition of Manchukuo and Outer Mongolia would form an integral part of any such agreement.
“5. In my opinion, the primary significance of the pact is that, on paper, Russia has ensured her security in the East, should the Germans attack in the West, and at the same time, at least outwardly, satisfied Germany’s hopes for Japanese-Soviet rapprochement.
“6. It is quite telling that Stalin and Molotov came to the station to see Matsuoka off, thereby playing on the vanity of the latter and demonstrating by this compliment to the Japanese just how far Russia is willing to go in her efforts to guarantee the security of the eastern borders in the face of danger in the West.
“7. This sequence of circumstances makes it more necessary now than ever that GUO TAIQI passes through Moscow.”
Our note: GUO TAIQI is the Chinese ambassador in London, recently appointed by the Foreign Minister.
Copies of the Scripps telegram were sent to the British ambassadors in Washington and Chongqing.
21 April 1941. No. 278. VADIM.
Translation © 2025 by Michael Estes and TranslatingHistory.org
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