REPORTED SOVIET AIMS

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

REPORTED SOVIET AIMS

“The Council of Foreign Ministers resumed its sittings in an atmosphere probably created by London correspondents’ reports, published in American papers, concerning the Russian attitude to Italian colonial questions, reported the Press Association, before Mr Molotov’s press conference. “It was agreed when the conference opened that only communiques should be issued, but there appears to have been a series of leakages purporting to give details of Russia’s aspirations in the Mediterranean. These ar :ar circumstantial and they are reported to be based on reliable information. They declare that Russia is asking for the division of Italian colonies among the Allies, Russia taking Tripohtania. Russia is also reported to be as k* n ® for the Dodecanese on the ground that they are part of the Dardanelles area. “Russia apparently has put forward b request for a Tripolitanian trusteeship on two main grounds,” sa y s *“ e diplomatic correspondent of The Times,” “First, that the Italians joined with the Germans in invading and occupying Soviet territory; second, that Russia believes her experience in developing backward peoples in Central Asia qualifies her for a place among the trustee Powers. Tnpolitania, moreover, is strategically important territory midway along the Mediterranean shore, opposite Malta •nd Sicily,”

The diplomatic correspondent of the “News Chronicle” savs: Th u ere c ha y ( r been rumours before that the Soviet would like to be given a trusteeship o- er some of the former Italian territories in Africa, and Eritrea has been mentioned specifically in this connexion. But the American reports coming as they did from responsible correspondents. quoting .reliable sources go far beyond anything that has yet been rumoured in connexion with Soviet policy -in the Mediterranean. “They expand greatly the picture of Soviet plans for penetration into the Mediterranean, which has been punt up by recent Soviet political action and propaganda-such as the agitation in northern Persia; the demands on Turkey for Soviet bases in the straits and the Dardanelles; the emphasis m Soviet propaganda on the desirability of ‘a friendly government’ in Turkey; Russian propaganda attacks on the Greek Government; and Soviet support of Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Jugoslav territorial irredentism directed against Greece and Italy. “If these reports are true they suggest that Mr Molotov may be muen firmer in his support of Jugoslav claims to Trieste than has hitherto been expected.” . , , . The Greek Government has protested to the Allies because Greece has not been invited to express her views through representatives at the Council meeting.