RUSSIAN SIEGE TIGHTENED

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25638, 29 October 1948, Page 7

RUSSIAN SIEGE TIGHTENED

PATROLS OPERATE IN BERLIN «. c , . . LONDON, October 37. {r , -,! n # to p fe« tbe last loophole in fheir inner blockade of Western Berlin, the Russians to-day had mill* tary police as well as German police stopping traffic in the city and even pedestrians,” says the Berlin correspondent of the Associated Press. One such force, armed with machine-guns and pistols, stood at the Brandenburg Gate.' the dividing line between the Soviet and British sectors. Vehicular traffic was halted and cargoes confiscated unless they held a written Soviet authorisation.” The Western authorities in Berlin have expressed fears that the Soviet authorities, under the guise of adding to the safety of air travel, may demand the drawing up of new flight regulations which will in reality give them control over the British and American air lift. The British authorities are studying a letter from Captain Zorchenko, the boviet chief controller at the fourPower Berlin Air Safetv Centre, which says that no four-Power agreements exist governing Allied air traffic into and out of Berlin.