BERLIN TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26030, 6 February 1950, Page 7

BERLIN TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

TRANSPORT NOW BACK TO NORMAL SOVIET REJECTS ALLIED PROTESTS (Rec. 9 p.m.) BERLIN, February 5. The Soviet commandant in. Berlin (Major-General Kotikov) yesterday rejected the protests lodged last week by the Western Allies against Rus-sian-imposed traffic restrictions on the road to Berlin from the west. General Kotikov said the Russian action was made necessary to combat smuggling. There were also some conflicting regulations about consignment

papers which had caused delays. General Kotikov rejected the Allied protests as unfounded because neither the Soviet nor the East German authorities had violated any decision of the Foreign Ministers’ Paris .conference, as the Western Allies had al1C Western Allied officials, immediately after the receipt of General Kotikov s Note, described the Russian-attitude as “entirely unsatisfactory.” Lorry traffic heading for Berlin was almost back to normal yesterday morning. Fifty lorries passed the Soviet zone check-point in less than an hour after the East zone German police had lifted a ban, imposed on Friday night because of icy roads. A total of 240 lorries were waiting on the British side of the check-point when the ban was lifted. The driver of a jeep which struggled over a 100mile stretch to Berlin reported that more than 80 Berlin-bound lorries had halted between Hqlmstedt and Berlin to wait for better road condi-To-day, police at the Soviet zonal border near Lubeck reported that -Berlin traffic had been normal all day. The Russians at midnight continued to clear Berlin-bound traffic at the Helmstedt frontier at better than the normal rate of 25 trucks an hour.