NOTE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE U.S.S.R.
DELIVERED TO THE POLISH AMBASSADOR IN MOSCOW
IN THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 17, 1939
September 17, 1939
Mr. Ambassador!
The Polish-German War has revealed the internal bankruptcy of the Polish
State. During the course of ten days' hostilities Poland has lost all her industrial
areas and cultural centres. Warsaw, as the capital of Poland, no longer exists. The Polish
Government has disintegrated, and no longer shows any sign of life. This means that the
Polish State and its Government have, in point of fact, ceased to exist. In the same way,
the Agreements concluded between the U.S.S.R. and Poland have ceased to operate. Left to
her own devices and bereft of leadership, Poland has become a suitable field for all
manner of hazards and surprises, which may constitute a threat to the U.S.S.R. For these
reasons the Soviet Government, who have hitherto been neutral, cannot any longer preserve
a neutral attitude towards these facts.
The Soviet Government also cannot view with indifference the fact that the
kindred Ukrainian and White Russian people, who live on Polish territory and who are at
the mercy of fate, should be left defenceless.
In these circumstances, the Soviet Government have directed the High
Command of the Red Army to order the troops to cross the frontier and to take under their
protection the life and property of the population of Western Ukraine and Western White
Russia.
At the same time the Soviet Government propose to take all measures to
extricate the Polish people from the unfortunate war into which they were dragged by
their unwise leaders, and enable them to live a peaceful life.
Accept, Mister Ambassador, the assurance of my high consideration.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R.
V. MOLOTOV
To
The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Poland, Mr. Grzybowski
Polish Embassy
Moscow
(Soviet official English language version)
*
NOTE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE U.S.S.R.
DELIVERED IN THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 17, 1939
TO AMBASSADORS AND LEGATES OF THE STATES HAVING DIPLOMATIC
RELATIONS WITH THE U.S.S.R.
September 17, 1939
Mister Ambassador!
In transmitting to you the enclosed copy of the Soviet Government's Note
of September 17th to the Polish Ambassador in Moscow, I have the honour, on the
instructions of my Government, to inform you that the U.S.S.R. will pursue a policy of
neutrality in her relations with (named countries)*.
Accept, Mister Ambassador, the assurance of my high consideration.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R.
V. MOLOTOV
* This text sent to diplomatic
representatives of: Germany, Italy, Iran, China, Japan, Great Britain, France,
Afghanistan, U.S.A., Turkey, Finland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Mongolian People's Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, Greece, Belgium, Rumania, Tuvan People's Republic, Lithuania,
Norway, Hungary.
(Soviet official English language version)
* * * * *
DESPATCH OF THE POLISH AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.S.R.,
WACLAW GRZYBOWSKI, TO THE POLISH MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
September 17, 1939
Moscow, September 17, 1939
Mr. Potemkin sent for me today, September 17, at 3 a.m., and read me a
Note from his Government, signed by premier Molotov.
The Note communicates that the Soviet Government have ordered their troops
to cross the Polish frontier. The motives given in the Note were of such a nature that I
refused to take it into cognizance and categorically protested against its contents. In
view of the absence of Soviet diplomatic representatives from Poland, I agreed only to
transmit the above information. I await instructions.
(Polish official English language version)
*
COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED BY THE POLISH EMBASSY IN LONDON
September 17, 1939
London, September 17, 1939
On September 17, at 4 a.m., Soviet troops crossed the frontier of Poland at
many points and were met immediately with strong resistance on the part of the Polish national
army. A sharp encounter in particular is being fought near the frontier in the region of
Molodeczno.
The pretext which the Soviet Government advance in order to justify this
flagrant act of direct aggression is that the Polish Government has ceased to exist, and that
it has abandoned the territory of Poland, thus leaving the Polish population on territories
outside the zone of war with Germany without protection. The Polish Government cannot enter
into any discussion of the pretext which the Soviet Government has invented in order to
justify the violation of the Polish frontier.
The Polish Government, responsible to the President of the Republic and to
the duly elected National Parliament, are functioning on Polish territory and are carrying on
the war against the German aggressors by all the means in their power.
By the act of direct aggression committed this morning, the Soviet Government
have flagrantly violated the Polish-Russian Pact of Non-Aggression, concluded in Moscow on
July 25, 1932, in which both parties mutually undertook to abstain from all aggressive action
or from attack against each other. Moreover, on May 5, 1934, by the Protocol signed in Moscow,
the above Pact of Non-Aggression was prolonged until December 31, 1945.
By the Convention concluded in London on July 3, 1933, Soviet Russia and Poland
agreed on a definition of aggression, which clearly stamped as an act of aggression any
encroachment upon the territory of one Contracting Party by the armed forces of the other and
furthermore, that no consideration of a political, military, economic, or any other order could
in any circumstances serve as a pretext or excuse for committing an act of aggression.
Therefore, by the act of wanton aggression committed this morning, the Soviet
Government stands self-condemned as a violator of its international obligations, thus
contradicting all the moral principles upon which Soviet Russia pretended to base her foreign
policy since her admittance into the League of Nations.
(Polish official English language version) |
