On June 22, 1941, Germany began Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union by territories that the two countries had previously divided. [107] Against the soviet Union since the end of 1940, Germany managed to avoid the delivery of about 750 million German marks of goods it would have supplied under the economic agreements. [192] But it cost Germany about 520 million German marks in counter-delivery that the Soviets could have made before the invasion. [192] Shortly before the attack on 22 June, German ships left Soviet ports, some of which were unloaded. [185] In the night after the invasion, the Germans sent their remaining workers to the project, and the Soviet navy workers let them go. [185] In new economic discussions, Astakhov told a German official on 17 May that he wanted to “repeat in detail that there was no conflict in foreign policy between Germany and Soviet Russia and therefore there was no reason to be hostile between the two countries”. [30] Three days later, on 20 May, Molotov told the German ambassador in Moscow that he no longer only wanted to discuss economic issues and that it was necessary to create a “political base”[32], German officials saw an “implicit invitation”[30] and a “virtual invitation to political dialogue”. [31] On 26 May, German officials feared a possible positive outcome of The Soviet talks on the proposals of Britain and France. [33] On 30 May, Germany told its diplomats in Moscow that “we have now decided to start concrete negotiations with the Soviet Union.” [34] The discussions that followed were guided by economic negotiations, because the economic needs of both sides were considerable and because by the mid-1930s, after the creation of the anti-communist pact and the Spanish Civil War, close military and diplomatic ties had been severed, so that these talks were the only means of communication.

[33] On 28 September 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union extended the scope of the German-Soviet credit agreement of 19 August 1939. Subsequently, the Soviet Union sent a supply commission to Germany to select German goods to be delivered against Soviet raw materials. [34] Ribbentrop proposed that the Soviet Union cede the Drohobycz and Boryslaw oil district to Germany because Russia had rich oil resources while Germany did not. Stalin opposed it, but promised Germany all of the district`s annual production, which now stands at 300,000 tonnes, but would increase to 500,000 tonnes. In return, Germany would supply coal and steel pipes. [34] Molotov summed up the results of the negotiations in a letter: “I have the honour of herethly confirming that the government of the USSR is ready to promote by all means, on the basis and in the spirit of the general political understanding we have obtained, trade relations and trade between Germany and the USSR. To this end, both sides will establish an economic programme under which the Soviet Union will supply raw materials to Germany, allowing Germany to be compensated over a long period of time by deliveries of industrial goods.