The ‘White Book’ about the summer negotiations in Moscow is to be published in a fortnight or less. Rumours keep circulating that it will be prepared in such a way (unless something unexpected happens at the last moment) that it will inevitably result in the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries, or at least the mutual recall of ambassadors.

The Daily Worker raised the alarm back on 27 December, giving the first warning about the danger of a break in relations. On the same day, the Foreign Office refuted the newspaper’s report through Reuters and interviews with foreign correspondents.

Nevertheless, yesterday, 2 January, Seeds left Moscow ‘on leave’. Before his departure, he visited C[omrades] Potemkin and Molotov for discussions about the state of Anglo-Soviet relations. He was given to understand that the Soviet government harboured no hostile intentions towards England, but was resolutely determined to eliminate the danger to Leningrad presented by hostile, bourgeois Finland. It was also pointed out to Seeds that Britain was continuing to pursue a line hostile to the USSR, in particular in the League of Nations and on the Finnish issue. Seeds asked the Soviet government to make a gesture to signify our desire to maintain normal relations with England, tacitly threatening their further deterioration should such a gesture not be made. Seeds’ request was not satisfied, but he nonetheless expressed the hope that Halifax, with whom he was planning to talk in London, would be able to ‘come up with something’. Seeds’ departure merely confirms the rumours that the publication of the ‘White Book’ will preclude his continued presence in Moscow. The same rumours say that my stay in London will also become very precarious after the appearance of the Book, although I confess that it is not entirely clear to me how this might happen. Time will tell.

Today’s newspapers report that Naggiar, the French ambassador in Moscow, is also soon to depart on ‘extended leave’. The Italian ambassador in Moscow Rosso

Augusto Rosso, Italian ambassador in Moscow, 1936–40.

has also received instructions from his government to go ‘on leave’: this is clearly a response to the recall of our new ambassador in Rome, C[omrade] Gorelkin,

Nikolai Vasilevich Gorelkin, head of the western department of NKID, 1939; Soviet ambassador in Italy, 1939–41.

who, on the eve of the presentation of his credentials, was called back to Moscow in protest against the anti-Soviet demonstrations in front of the embassy about the events in Finland.

So, three great powers are recalling their ambassadors from Moscow. This is no coincidence. It is part of the plan presented by Daladier at the last meeting of the Inter-Allied Supreme War Council on 19 December. Daladier argued that the ‘Allies’ should sever diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Chamberlain objected, saying this was still ‘premature’ and that in any case it would be more advantageous for the break to occur at the initiative of the USSR. It was eventually decided to pursue a wait-and-see policy and to use various means to provoke Moscow to sever relations: by lending assistance to Finland, by recalling ambassadors, by publishing the ‘White Book’, and so on. It’s possible that poor Doshchenko is also a cog in this general plan.