"BOLD STROKE"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 7

"BOLD STROKE"

RUSSIA AND POLAND New Accord Foreshadows PostWar Policy United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 1. Stalin's signature to the RussoPohsh agreement is not an opportunist move nor dictated by a desire to please Britain, but it is significant indication of the future of Russian international policy, says Reuter's special correspondent in Moscow. The correspondent adds that while the fierce battle continues in western Russia, developments vitally important to both the progress of the war and to post-war Europe have occurred in the diplomatic field. The agreement with Poland is an example of this. It is a bold and startling stroke characteristic of Soviet foreign policy, which has returned to the idea of an anti-Fascist and anti-aggression front. This was very dear to Stalin's heart years ago when it was manifested in Russian adherence to the League of Nations, and it is now freely admitted that the so-called partition of Poland in 1939 was merely to prevent Germany from approaching even closer to vital Russian areas. Its necessity has been proved by the course of the war, in which the Baltic States and Russian-occupied Poland absorbed the initial shock of the German onslaught. The Russo-Polish agreement does not settle territorial problems, but "Pravda" and other newspapers are highly significantly welcoming the restoration of Poland's "creative" powers.