Russian Interest Disclosed

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24676, 20 September 1945, Page 5

Russian Interest Disclosed

MOLOTOV COMMENTS ON REPORTS

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 18. There was a grain of truth in the reports about Russian aspirations to Tripolitania, but he preferred to defer comment because the question was still under discussion, said the Russian Foreign Commissar (Mr Molotov) at a press conference. He said* that the Soviet attitude towards Eritrea was also under discussion. "I will not conceal that Russia has an interest in this question, and I think she can be helpful," he said. Although the principle of collective trusteeship had not yet been applied, the principle was a correct one and it should be applied as decided at San Francisco, said Mr Molotov. However, the principle of individual trusteeship for Italian colonies should not be ignored. The Russian delegation to the Foreign Ministers' Council regarded it as their duty to adhere to a fair attitude towards Jugoslavia's claims and they thought it fair and just that territories belonging to the Croats and Slovenes should be returned (o them. "We have sufficient grounds to think that there exist in Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary, democratic governments Moving the confidence of the majority of the people of those countries," he said. "Russia also feels that the sooner a natural democratic government is established in Greece the better it will be for Greece and her allies."