Anglo-Soviet Agreement


The Anglo-Soviet Agreement was a formal military alliance that was signed by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany on July 12, 1941, shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Both powers pledged to assist each other and not to make a separate peace with Germany. The military alliance was to be valid until the end of World War II.
The agreement was replaced by the Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942.
According to Lynn Davis, the United States perceived the agreement to mean that the Soviet Union intended to support the postwar re-establishment of independence of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Terms

The agreement was drawn up and signed in English, and after it was translated into Russian, it was established and its authenticity recognised.
The agreement stated that these conditions were settled upon by the governments of both the United Kingdom and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic:
  1. Refrainment from hostile actions and/or undertakings against the other party, including:
  2. * Direct or indirect propaganda against the opposing government outside of the borders of each other's country.
  3. * Encouragement of other countries to undertake hostile action against each other's government.
  4. Permission for citizens of each other's country to return home.
  5. Removal of trade and economic blockades existing between both countries except for the regulation of trade in arms and ammunition.
  6. Respective privileges of each other's ships and treatment to be established in accordance to all foreign merchant ships, with all respective contents, including crew and cargo.
  7. *The British government's permission of free naval navigation to Russian ships to correspond with the freedom entitled to ships of other nationalities.
  8. *Information pertaining to the placement of mines be given to each other's country to help establish safe passage for the ships of each country.
  9. Each country may nominate a number of its nationals to ensure proper effect be given to the agreement.
  10. *Permission for countries allowed to withhold the agreement to communicate freely with their respective country.
  11. *Passports and documents of identity to be treated in the other country as consistent with those issued or certified by authorities of a recognized foreign government.