Soviet Union interested in buying German freighters in Soviet harbours according to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad dated 31 October 1939

An item dated Berlin 31 October referred to a very reliable source which reported that the Soviet Trade Commission was negotiating at Berlin to buy several German freighters which were at that moment lying in Soviet harbours in the Black Sea, at Leningrad, Vladivostok but mainly at Murmansk. A commission of Russian naval experts departed the same day towards Kiel to visit the shipyards over there. According to rumours they would discuss the availability of German facilities for building small Soviet surface units.