Cablegram 263, MOSCOW, 2 August 1948, 10.47 p.m.
IMMEDIATE SECRET AND PERSONAL
BERLIN Despite fairly frequent and sometimes hearty contact the plain fact is that there is a complete three Power shut-down on any information regarding the current negotiations[1] here which would give venture to the slightest idea of what is precisely the object of the negotiations or whether they are likely to be successful. In the circumstances my best source of information is the B.B.C. which I assume is heard equally well in Australia.
_[1] A meeting held in Moscow on 2 August 1948 between Stalin and representatives of the United States, United Kingdom and France about the situation in Germany. Following this the three governments presented a joint statement to Molotov on 6 August seeking, inter alia, the lifting of restrictions on traffic in return for agreeing to the use of Soviet zone currency in Berlin.
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[AA : A 3195, 1948, I.12454]