CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001900170001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 29, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 17, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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17 March 1955
Copy No. 88
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. -50
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
LI DECLASSFIEO
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 5CCU I Q
DATE: So REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
DIA and DOS review(s) completed.
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
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1. Soviet Foreign Ministry official states USSR would conclude
Austrian treaty after Paris agreements ratified (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
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4. Laotian action against Communists discouraged by British
(page .5).
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GENERAL
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1. Soviet Foreign Ministry official states USSR would conclude
Austrian treaty after Paris agreements ratified.
V. S. Semenov, who is in charge of
Austrian and German affairs in the
Soviet Foreign Ministry, told the Swedish
minister in Moscow in early March that
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the USSR would be prepared to conclude an Austrian treaty even if
the Paris agreements were ratified. He stated further that the
Soviet Union recognizes that the Austrian question is separate from
that of Germany.
Comment: Semenov's statement.is a.
departure from a long- established Soviet position that the Austrian
question cannot be settled after ratification of the Paris accords
and cannot be considered apart from the German problem because
the rearmament of West Germany will intensify the danger of an
Anschluss. Although Soviet propaganda continues to insist on a
conference on Austria prior to ratification, Molotov did not men-
tion this condition to the Austrian ambassador in their recent talks.
Moscow may believe that the Austrians
must be assured of the continuing possibility of a peace treaty to
prevent the integration of Austria into Western defense plans, and
may have used this indirect means to accomplish this end. Austria
sent a note to the USSR on 14 March seeking further clarification of
Molotov's proposals.
17 Mar 55
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Laotian action against Communists discouraged by British:
British and French officials have been
working to counteract American assur-
ances to Laotian officials that, in view
of the Manila pact, the Laotian govern-
without serious risk of overt external attack, the American minis-
ter in Vientiane reports.
ent might proceed against the Communist-backed Pathet Lao
British minister Talbot stated that he had
been instructed to oppose the use of force by the Laotian govern-
ment, in the belief that such action might provoke a Viet Minh
invasion.
French representative Dufour, while
not opposed "in principle" to the eventual use of force, doubts
that the Laotians have the capability, without French military di-
rection, to carry out. such an operation.
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Comment: British and French overtures
probably account for the Laotian government's agreement to a
cease-fire with the Pathet Lao and its decision to continue talks
in Vientiane. .
e eves royai or ave this capability, but only if the French
direct the campaign and if the Pathet Lao is not reinforced by
Viet Minh units.
The American army attach in Vientiane
17 Mar 55
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
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