NEW RECRUITS TO SOVIET

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23080, 24 July 1940, Page 9

NEW RECRUITS TO SOVIET

INTERNAL CHANGES

IN LATVIA

SUICIDE OF ESTONIAN

FASCIST LEADER

nmrrsD pees* association —copyright.)

(Received July 23, 7 p.m.)

LONDON, July 22. The leader of the former Estonia® Fascist Party (M. Roeuk), committed suicide after the decision to incorporate Estonia in the Soviet. The Official News Agency stale* that the Latvian Parliament ordered all land to become the property of the nation. Each peasant is limited to 30 acres. Parliament is also nationalising the banks and commercial undertakmThe added spread of Soviet influence in the Baltic States would not disturb Russian-German or German-BalUc relations. Measures had already been taken for the regulation of trade under the new conditions in the Baltic. A message from Washington states that the United States Assistant-Sec-retary of State (Mr Sumner Welles) said that all available facts were being studied before a decision in connexion with possible steps to protect American interests in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia was made. He pointed out that the United States had not yet arrived at its decision concerning Russia’s occupation of Eastern Poland last year because the United States did not feel it had collected the necessary facts. Earlier the Latvian Minister in Washington (Dr. Alfred Bilmanis) announced that he would not surrender the legation to Russia becau.se “the Homeland is the victim of unprovoked assault.”