Diplomatic relations between the USSR and France established

Intergovernmental relations between Russia and France began in the middle of XI century. However after the October revolution of 1917 they were broken off and only time and certain diplomatic efforts could restore them.

On October 28, 1924 the French premier-minister Eduard Errio on behalf of the Council of ministers sent a telegram to the president of the Central Executive Committee M.I. Kalinin. It stated that the French government is ready “to establish immediately normal diplomatic relations with the Soviet government by exchanging of ambassadors’. The French government noted that “from now on the non-interference in domestic affairs will become the rule regulating the relationship between the two countries”.

The telegram stated that France acknowledges de jure the government of the SSR Union “as the government of the territory of the former Russian empire, where its rule is recognized by the population, and as successor of the previous Russian governments” and proposes to exchange ambassadors. Errio suggested to send a Soviet delegation to Paris in order to carry on negotiations on general and particular economic issues.

In the reply telegram on the name of Errio it was said that the Central Executive Committee of the USSR “sees it as a very important issue to eliminate all the misunderstandings between the SSR Union and France and to conclude an agreement between the two countries that should become a basis for friendly relationship. In so doing the USSR is guided by its aspiration to support the universal peace in the interests of working mass of all the countries and the friendship with all nations”.

On November 14, 1924 the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR appointed L.B. Krasin the authorized representative in France keeping at the same time his post of a Peoples’ commissar of the foreign trade. G. Erbett was nominated the ambassador of France in the USSR.

The acknowledgement of the USSR by France had a great political meaning and indicated the intern development of the Soviet Union and the strengthening of its international position.

Lit.: Панкратова А. М. Признание СССР Францией // История дипломатии. Т. 3. М.; Л., 1945. Гл. 11; Признание Советского Союза капиталистическими странами (1924-1925 гг.) // История внешней политики СССР. Т. 1. М., 1980. Гл. 7; Российско-Французские отношения [Электронный ресурс] // Посольство Российской Федерации во Франции. Б. д. URL.: http://www.france.mid.ru/.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Russia – France: on the history of relations: [digital collection].