ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union could ignore 'the sovereign rights of peoples' and the 'independence and territorial integrity' of the border states. Whereas the United States Government initially refused to make any commitments before the peace conference the British, prompted by the ambassador in Moscow, Stafford Cripps, felt that some concessions were desirable in order to improve relations with the Soviet Union. The Anglo-Soviet treaty of May 1942 made no mention of future frontiers and was a purely military agreement. The Soviets felt that this major concession would result in a more positive response by the western Allies to their persistent demands for a second front. In December 1941, when the German armies were at the gates of Moscow, Stalin told the Polish Prime Minister, Sikorski, that he might consider allowing the Poles to keep Lvov, but he soon withdrew the offer when the military situation improved.
