The Soviet Government, in its note of November 27, 1958, states:
[ . . . ] The Soviet Government can no longer consider itself bound by that part of the Allied agreements on Germany that has assumed an inequitable character and is being used for the purpose of maintaining the occupation regime in West Berlin and interfering in the internal affairs of the GDR.
In this connection, the Government of the USSR hereby notifies the United States Government that the Soviet Union regards as null and void the “Protocol of the Agreement between the Governments of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom on the zones of occupation in Germany and on the administration of Greater Berlin,” of September 12, 1944, and the related supplementary agreements, including the agreement on the control machinery in Germany, concluded between the governments of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, and France on May 1, 1945, i. e., the agreements that were intended to be in effect during the first years after the capitulation of Germany.
In an attempt to justify this action, the Soviet Government alleges:
(1) that such action is legal because of alleged violations by the Western powers of the Potsdam Agreement;
(2) that the agreements were intended to be in effect only during the first years after the capitulation of Germany;
(3) that alleged activities of the Western powers in their sector of Berlin have resulted in a forfeiture of their rights to occupy those sectors and to have free access thereto.
[a)] Relationship of the Potsdam Agreement to U.S. Occupation Rights With Respect to Berlin
The so-called Potsdam Agreement was issued at the conclusion of the Berlin Conference of July 17 to August 2, 1945. The Protocol of the Proceedings which embodied the points of agreement reached by the Heads of Government of the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is dated August 1, 1945. From this mere statement of the time factor it is apparent that the Agreement on Zones of Occupation and the Status of Berlin which had entered into force on February 6, 1945, approximately 6 months earlier, does not depend for its validity upon the Potsdam Protocol of Proceedings. Moreover, there is nothing in the Potsdam Protocol which specifically subjects the prior agreement to any of its terms or which can be interpreted as having that effect. Nor is there any evidence that the subsequent agreements on the exercise of the rights of access relate to or are connected in any way with the Potsdam Protocol.
Violations (alleged or real) of the Potsdam Agreement could not, therefore, have any legal effect upon the validity either of the basic occupation rights of the Western powers or upon the agreements which define the rights of the Western powers to be in occupation of their zones and of their sectors of Berlin and to have free access to Berlin.
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