ESPIONAGE ALLEGED AGAINST POLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 108, 8 May 1943, Page 5

ESPIONAGE ALLEGED AGAINST POLES

RUSSIAN CHARGES Refused To Fight On Eastern Front Rec. noon. LONDON, May 7. Members of the Polish Embassy staff in Moscow had carried on espionage, said the Russian DeputyForeign Minister, M. Vyshinsky, in a statement to the Press in Moscow to-day. They worked under a cloak of charitable activities, using Poles in need of assistance. "General Volikovski, former chief of the Polish Military Mission, played one of the most important parts in the cultivation and realisation of espionage in Russia," said M. Vyshinsky. "The Polish first secretaries and also other Embassy officials were exposed and deported from Russia. In addition, other Embassy representatives and staff members who took part in criminal activities against Russia were prosecuted under the criminal law. Some were deported and others arraigned for trial and sentenced to various terms of deprivation of freedom. Polish Embassy Warned " The Russian Commissar for Foreign Affairs on May 31, 1942, warned the Polish Embassy concerning the facts of their espionage work. The warning proved insufficient."

M. Vyshinsky. added that the Polish relief agency was afterwards liquidated..,,. These facts, which were related to" the problems of aid to Polish families evaluated to Russia, were provided in reply to the recent "false and hostile utterances of the Polish representatives and their official Press." After giving details of the formation of the Polish Army in Russia, M. Vyshinsky said the question of the participation of Polish troops with the Russians in the struggle against Germany was first deleted from the Order of the Day by the Polish Government. Fell Into German Trap "The allegations that the Russians have hindered or are hindering the departure from Russia of Polish subjects are false," he continued. "The Polish Government did not wish the dispatch of divisions for the Russo-German front and refused the use of Polish troops against the Germans on this front. It evaded the fulfilment of its own undertakings." M. Vyshinsky said he was ready to show Pressmen copies of documents relating to the questions dealt with in his statement. Asked whether Russia considered General Sikorski. Polish Prime Minister, as personally responsible for recent events, M. Vyshinsky said: "The real answer is what part has General Sikorski played in the Polish Government." M. Vyshinsky refused to say what conditions the Russian Government required for the resumption of relations with Poland, but declared that the Polish Government had fallen into a German trap, and w=s responsible for the rupture. Therefore, it was up to the Polish Government to take concrete steps.