TASS Communiqué of 13 June 1941

Background

In the spring of 1941, rumors of an imminent war between Germany and the Soviet Union were circulating widely in Europe. After British Ambassador Stafford Cripps left Moscow, the British and international press reported that Germany had presented territorial and economic demands to the USSR, that the USSR had rejected them, and that Germany was consequently concentrating troops on the Soviet border.

Content of the Communiqué

Broadcast on the evening of 13 June and published in newspapers on 14 June, the TASS statement contained four key assertions:

1. Germany had made no demands on the USSR and no negotiations for a new agreement were taking place.
2. Germany, like the USSR, was observing the Soviet-German non-aggression pact; recent German troop movements eastward were related to other motives following the conclusion of Balkan operations.
3. The USSR, in accordance with its peace policy, had observed and intended to continue observing the non-aggression pact; rumors of Soviet war preparations were false and provocative.
4. The summer call-up of Red Army reservists and forthcoming maneuvers were routine annual exercises.

Authorship

According to the testimony of Yakov Khavinson, then head of TASS, Stalin summoned him to his Kuntsevo dacha on 13 June and personally dictated the text. Stalin paced the room, puffing on his pipe, dictated the statement, made two or three corrections, and then had Khavinson read it aloud. This account, recorded in the 1960s, provided the basis for the editors of Stalin's collected works (vol. 18) to attribute authorship to Stalin.

Historical Interpretation

The traditional interpretation views the communiqué as evidence of Stalin's catastrophic misjudgment of Hitler's intentions. Issued just nine days before the invasion, it appeared to show Stalin dismissing all warnings for fear of provoking a German attack. Revisionist historians, notably Viktor Suvorov, interpret it in reverse: as a deliberate feint by Stalin to reassure Hitler of his peaceful intentions while concealing his own offensive preparations. The debate remains a central issue in the historiography of the origins of the Nazi-Soviet War. Exactly nine days after the communiqué, on 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa.