In parallel, he had begun negotiations with France's Raymond Poincaré, who aimed for a "solidarity of foreign creditors" in respect to the Soviet state, and who agreed to recognize the latter on October 28, 1924. One of his last tasks involved placing Soviet orders for machinery, textiles, and other commodities with British manufacturers: worth 75 million US$ on paper, these failed to attract attention after he announced that the Soviet government did not intend to pay in cash. According to the American magazine "Time", Rakovsky also played a hand in motivating Stalin's decision to marginalize Comintern leader Zinoviev, by complaining that the latter's foreign policy was needlessly radical.