PLOTTING AGAINST SOVIET

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 271, 28 August 1946, Page 5

PLOTTING AGAINST SOVIET

White Russians Charged (Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, August 27. Eight leaders of a White Russian organisation in the Far East pleaded guilty before a military court in Moscow to charges of plotting against the Soviet for 25 years, states the Moscow radio. The plots covered every field of subversive, terrorist, propagandist and military activity. The chief defendant, Grigori Semenov, under examination admitted anti-Soviet activity since 1917, when he was military Commissar in the Far East under Kerensky. He said he received'arms, equipment and supplies of money from the Japanese for punitive expeditions against Soviet citizens in the Transbaikal region. Kilchak promoted him and his successor in East Russia .with the rank of lieutenant-general. Japan financed his units, in support of a plot whereby Japan would seize Soviet territory as far as the Urals. Semenov said that after the Red Army defeated the White Guards, he left agents in the Transbaikal region for espionage, sabotage and terrorism, and he' continually sought means for a quarter of a century after that to resume the struggle against the Soviet with Japanese assistancce. He continued active espionage for the Japanese against the Soviet until arrested. Intimidation and torture, of Soviet citizens are among the charges against the defendants. „ The court adjourned.