BRITISH DENIAL TO MOSCOW

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25088, 21 January 1947, Page 7

BRITISH DENIAL TO MOSCOW

TREATY WITH RUSSIA NOT SUPERSEDED COMMENT ON ARTICLE IN “PRAVDA” (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright) _ ’ LONDON, Jan. 19. The Foreign Office announces that the British Ambassador to Moscow (Sir Maurice Peterson) has been instructed to inform Mr Stalin that the suggestion which a “Pravda” article elaborated most misleadingly, that the United Nations might be regarded, in London as superseding the British-Russian Alliance, has surprised the British Government. ‘The fact that both Goverhments wished the United Nations‘to buttress international security did not mean that the treaty had lapsed merely because the United Nations had been born,” says the Foreign Office statement. “No security agreements that could possibly be considered to justify the treaty’s supersession had yet been adopted under Article 43 of the Charter. ‘The intention of Mr Bevin’s broadcast on December 22, 1946, was to show that Britain had not aligned her foreign policy against Russia, but that she favoured co-operation among all the United Nations, and especially with Russia and the United States. , “Mr Bevin was actually answering allegations that British relations with Russia were not as close as they should be.” Reuters diplomatic correspondent says it is learned authoritatively that Sir Maurice Peterson yesterday handed to the Soviet Government the British statement on the “Pravda” article and a copy of Mr Bevin’s broadcast of December 22.

“Pravda” stated on January 15 that Mr Bevin had “renounced" the 20-year friendship treaty between Britain and Russia. Mr Bevin’s foreign policy, it stated, did not include a consistent line of co-operation and friendship not only with the United States, but also with Russia, which had evoked doubt and anxiety in the minds of many ordinary men in Britain. “Pravda” added that Mr Bevin had said in his broadcast on December 22 that Britain was not tying herself to anybody. Had he forgotten that Britain was linked with Russia by a treaty providing for the common struggle against Germany during the war and post-war co-operation and mutual aid? A Foreign Office spokesman said that Mr Bevin’s sentence had been taken out of its context to make a debating point. Mr Bevin had been dealing with allegations that Britain was tied to American policy and he did not mean that Britain would not stand by the treaty’s obligations. That would be wholly at variance with the facts.