SOVIET PROTEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 12

SOVIET PROTEST.

AGAINST LONDON RAID

Letter to British Foreign Minister. IMMUNITY CLAIMED. ,<Bv Cable. —Pr3S3 Association. —'Copyright.) (Received 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 13. s M. Rosengolz, Soviet Charge d'Affaires, J has sent a letter to Sir Austen Cham- t berlain protesting against the raid. j The letter says the premises of Arcos, Ltd., and the trade delegation were occupied by armed police, although the r premises of the trade delegation I enjoyed diplomatic immunity, in accord- s ance with tho trade agreement of 1921, c and confirmed by tho Foreign Office in s the Noto of February 16. During , the raid an employee of the trade ( delegation. Khudiakov, who refused to 1 give up the key of a safe . containing ] personal papers and the cypher codes j of the official trade agent, was as- ( saulted by- tho police, who carried off , the post addressed to the trade agent, , ■which couriers had just brought. These , proceedings are a flagrant violation of Article 5 of the trade agreement, which provides that official agents shall be at ' liberty to communicate -with their own Government and other official representative:s of their Government in other countries, and receive and dispatch couriers -with sealed bags, which are exempt from examination. "Moreover, in accordance with Article I of the trade agreement the British Government undertook not to discriminate against such, trade as compared •with "the trade of any other country, hut the very fact of the raid •will inevitably injure Anglo-Soviet trade. "Common Decency Violated." "Furthermore, during the raid the most elementary guarantees and demands for common decency were violated and the search was begun before the presentation of tho warrant, which was only handed 1o the assistantdirector of Arcos, M. Sorokin, an hour after the commencement of the search. All the employees, men and women, of Arcos and the trade delegation, were detained and personally searched, including women possessing diplomatic passports, for instance, the wife of the Charge d'Affaires and the wife of a financial attache. The personal search of women was carried out by male police. "I have informed my Government of all that occurred, and", while awaiting their decision and instructions, I protest most emphatically against the violation of the obligations undertaken by the British Government in accordance with the trade agreement."