November 26, 1957
TITO: London, 23 – Reports today from Moscow and Belgrade confirm Yugoslavia’s intention to continue with an indepedent policy, despite dictates from Moscow. Observers here believe that Field Marshal Tito will not break openly with Moscow but will simply maintain a reserved stance which will be determined more clearly after the submission of a report to Marshal Tito by officials returning from the Soviet capital yesterday. Yugoslavia does not want to submit to Moscow’s whims, nor does it want to cut ties with the West because of the country’s economic requirements. Moreover, the Yugoslav leader appears to doubt the Soviet Union’s military superiority over the West. According to sources, Marshal Tito had sent the text of his recent speech to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who sent it back to him with erasures and additions that canceled out the Yugoslav leader’s different road to Socialism… Unofficial sources in Yugoslavia say that relations with Russia unavoidably deteriorated as a result, but that that the future would depend on what Moscow will do next. For the time being, the Yugoslavs are doing what they can not to dramatize the situation.
