me that as a result of Ribbentrop's visit to Rome no
 
new agreements of any kind had been entered into, nor 
 
would Italy deviate one inch from the course which she 
 
had set herself. He said that Ribbentrop had done his
 
utmost to persuade him, and Mussolini personally,
 
undertake a rapprochement with Soviet Russia. He said
 
that he himself would do everything possible to prevent
 
such a rapprochement, which, he believed would be fatal 
 
to the best interests of Italy. He said that he had no 
 
present intention of sending an Italian Ambassador back 
 
to Moscow.
 
         With regard to the Balkans, Count Ciano said that 
 
he knew quite well that stories were current that Italy 
 
was stirring up trouble in Croatia. He said he wished 
 
to assure me that was not the case; that Italy and Ger-
 
many had entered into an agreement to guard against any
 
intervention by either one of them in Yugoslavia, and
 
that the policy of Italy remained, as he had told me two
 
weeks earlier, the maintenance of the status quo in the
 
Balkans, and the maintenance of peace in that area. He
 
said that three days from now would the the third anni-
 
versary of the treaty which he himself had signed in 
 
Yugoslavia and that, in order to set at rest the rumors 
 
 
which had recently arisen, he was going to give a large 
 
dinner in Rome to the Minister of Yugoslavia. He em-
 
phasized the friendly relations which Italy desired to
 
maintain with that country.
 
     He then returned to the subject of security in 
 
Europe. He said he did not know any practical way in 
 
which that could be achieved except through the creation
 
                                                            of