Confidential report from Frederick H. Boland to Seán Nunan (Dublin)
(Confidential) (Copy)

A friend of mine in the Foreign Office who has Irish connections and is an expert on Russian affairs tells me that Mr. Sergei Kondrashev,¹ the First Secretary at the Soviet Embassy concerned primarily with cultural matters, seems to be taking some interest in Ireland.

Mr. Kondrashev told my friend the other evening that he is interested in the study of the Celtic languages. He asked where was the best place to obtain a grammar of modern Irish. He said he was also interested in the Welsh language and in Scots Gaelic and, in fact, in all the Celtic cultures of these islands. Mr. Kondrashev went on to say that he was interested in trying to improve the cultural relations between Ireland and Soviet Russia. He indicated that he had been discussing this with Mr. Sean O’Casey,² the dramatist, who, he indicated, had given him a number of useful suggestions. He thought of starting by bringing over to Dublin the remarkable Moscow puppet show now at the Casino Theatre here in London. Mr. Kondrashev wondered how a venture of this kind would be received in Ireland. My friend disclaimed the knowledge necessary to give him an opinion.

I have never met Mr. Kondrashev whom my friend describes as speaking English so well that anyone might mistake him for an unusually intelligent secretary at the American Embassy. In intelligence and experience he seems to be above the ordinary run of Soviet diplomatic personnel.

You may remember that in the course of a conversation which I had with him last January, the Soviet Chargé d’Affaires expressed a desire to see an improvement in the cultural relations between Soviet Russia and Ireland.³