RUSSIA AND PERSIA

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24763, 2 January 1946, Page 5

RUSSIA AND PERSIA

British Plan Rejected

BEVIN’S EFFORTS IN MOSCOW

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) <R -r£;. U H° P m ) .. LONDON, Jan. 1. "Th» „ T corres Pondent of ine Times says: "It is revealed that Mi Bevin received a bitter disappoint-v-HhtMtnc*hv P erson al negotiations vath Mr Stalin over a solution of the n pmbtan Mr Bevin suggested to Mr Stalin that a commission repreBritain, America, and Russia should be sent to Persia to submit a to the Persian Government for rrnnp e i teb l lshme u nt of a nu mber of councils throughout Persia, including Azerbaijan, by which it was hoped mmority 1J languages and other problems would be settled. # Stalin’s response was at first favourable. The Russians even put forward amendments which were incorporated in the scheme. The RusD^ h S wever Ju at the'last moment th ® P lan -” The correspondent adds: ‘The Russians cannot Mr Bevin personally feels about the Refusal.” In Washington the United States Secretary of State (Mr James Byrnes) has announced that all American troops have been evacuated from Persia. The British and Soviet troops were scheduled to be withdrawn by March 2.

Regret that Persia was not to be acmitted to the peace conference was expressed by the Persian Prime Minister (Hakami) and the Foreign Secretary (Naim) in a joint statement. No official communication on the Moscow conference had been received in Persia, but it appeared that no decision had been made to evacuate the .oreign troops immediately, said the statement “if the Big Three thirik they can discuss and take decisions on Persia independently of our attitude, it will be negative. Persia is an independent sovereign country allied to Britain and Russia, who have undern°t (° cdopt an attitude prejudicial to the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of Persia.

“Representatives of Persia should be present at the peace conference whenever matters relating to Persia are discussed.”