SOVIET OPPOSES NEGOTIATIONS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21730, 12 March 1936, Page 11

SOVIET OPPOSES NEGOTIATIONS

Serious Attitude To Breach of Treaty "CHAIN OF AGGRESSIVE ACTS" * (UNITED PRESS ASBOCUTIOH-COPTBIGHT.) (Received March 11, 9.26 p.m.) LONDON, March 10. M. Maisky (Soviet Ambassador in London) called on Lord Cranbourne (Under-Secretary for League Affairs) at the House of Commons and explained that the Soviet could not regard German denunciation of the Locarno Treaty as an isolated action. The illegal occupation of the Rhineland was only a link in a chain of aggressive acts and the o&ndoning of this latest treaty breaking would result disastrously by encouraging further breaches and placing a premium on aggression. Europe could be saved from aggressive war only if a resolute stand were mfjde now, but it would be too late to check Herr Hitler in the next emergency. . The Soviet strongly opposed exploratory conversations with Germany. The League Council should take most resolute actiop, which Russia would fully support. ANXIETY IN THE BALKANS RUMOURED BULGARIAN PREPARATIONS CONFERENCE OF STATES AT BELGRADE ATHENS, March 10. Representatives of Rumania, Jugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey will meet at Belgrade on March 23 to discuss the attitude of the signatories to the Balkan Pr.ct if' there should be a European conflict. The respective Governments and general staffs are anxious to come to a complete understanding. There have been rumours of hurried, secret military preparations in Bulgaria, leading to apprehensions that she intends to denounce clauses of the Treaty of Neuilly under which she renounced her claims to Macedonia and Thrace. Greece and Turkey are reported to have promised Jugoslavia assistance in any conflict with Bulgaria or Italy which is limited to the Balkans. NO FURTHER TALKS AT GENEVA ?} EARLY REPORTS ON PARIS CONFERENCE v (Received March 11, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 10. It is reported from Paris that the arrangements by which representatives of the Locarno powers were to have proceeded for the continuation of discussions at Geneva have been altered. The British representatives will return to London to-morrow morning for consultations with Cabinet. It was stated earlier that the conference was being conducted in the strictest secrecy. It is understood the French representatives are taking the firmest line. The conference broke up at 1.3 p.m. No decision was reached.

A communique declares that M. Flandin welcomed the delegates and observed that the object of the meeting was the exchange of information to define the situation.

No resolution will be submitted and no decision will be taken before the meeting of the League Council on Friday. The impression was general after the conference that the French Government was not budging from its firm stand in which it is supported by the whole nation. It feels that the time has come to stop German aggression and points out that Mr Eden's logic is inconsistent, because, while declaring that Germany's action had profoundly shaken confidence in Germany's word, he yet indicated that Britain was prepared to negotiate. BRITAIN ACCUSED OF COWARDICE ATTACK ON MR BALDWIN AND MR MACDONALD PARIS, March 10. "Pertinax," in the "Echo de Paris," bitterly attacks Mr Stanley Baldwin and Mr Ramsay Mac Donald as the real sources of the "cowardice" of the British Government's policy. "British public opinion forced them to act in the case of Abyssinia, but they have now relapsed into their natural apathy in the absence ,of further public pressure," the writer states. ...