GRAY
                                                       Moscow
                                                       Dated October 30, 1939
                                                       Rec'd 2:45 p.m.
Secretary of State,
            Washington
            
     TRIPLE PRIORITY.
 
            RUSH.
 
     837, October 30, 8 p.m.
 
     I have just been informed that the British broadcast 
from London at 7 p.m., Moscow time in reporting the 
expected departure tomorrow of the Finnish delegation 
for Moscow stated that a Finnish newspaper this evening 
had published a report alleging "when Paasikivi was in 
Moscow a high official of the American Embassy handed him 
a personal message of sympathy from President Roosevelt 
asking to be kept informed of the progress of the 
negotiations". I need hardly assure the Department that 
this report, assuming it to have been published in a 
Finnish newspaper, is completely without foundation. 
Neither I nor any member of the Embassy staff saw Paasikivi 
during his visits to Moscow.
 
     Repeated to Helsinki.
 
                                      STEINHARDT
 
HPD