7 - Rapallo

Summary

A closer Soviet–German relationship had been developing for some time before Genoa, prompted (on the German side) by their wish to restore trade relations with a market in which they had traditionally held a dominant share, and (on the Soviet side) by the Russian government's wish to secure economic assistance and to break down its isolation among the outside powers. As with other countries, the issues of propaganda, the return of prisoners of war and debts delayed the resumption of relations, but on 6 May 1921, a few weeks after the corresponding Anglo-Russian agreement, a provisional trade agreement was signed in Berlin which placed relations between the two countries on a new and more stable basis. The agreement extended the powers of the representatives responsible for prisoners of war in each country to all matters concerning their respective nationals, and provided for the appointment of trade representatives to each mission in order to facilitate the development of economic relations between the two countries. The RSFSR mission in Germany was acknowledged as the only recognised Russian mission in that country; the representatives of both countries, however, were required to limit themselves to the fulfilment of the agreement, and ‘in particular … to refrain from any agitation or propaganda against the government or state institutions of the country in which they [we]re located’.