Reports in the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union were keen to stress the military aspect of this. In September 1933, a Soviet military mission visited Rome and Vladimir Petrovich Potemkin, who served as Soviet Ambassador to Italy from 1932 until 1934, expressed "gratitude for the exceptional attention devoted to the Soviet mission by the Italian command and government," while a general from the Italian military stated, "the Italian Army has feelings which go deeper than the usual professional ones toward the Red Army. These feelings have been strengthened as a result of the Italo-Soviet Pact."[1]