CONTROL OVER DANUBE

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26511, 28 August 1951, Page 7

CONTROL OVER DANUBE

JUGOSLAV DEFIANCE OF SOVIET

(Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 27. Jugoslavia has sent a Note to the Soviet-controlled Danube Commission, the terms of which are regarded as a defiance of Russia. The Note says Jugoslavia intends to establish her own rules for navigation on the Danube, and will not conform to the rules Russia has established through the commission. The Note adds, however, that the Jugoslav rules "will not contain anything contrary to the spirit and letter of the banube Convention which were voted by a majority at the fourth session of the Danubian Commission." This was the session from which the Jugoslavs walked out in June, after protesting that under Russian influence the delegates were revising the convention regulating shipping on the river to the detriment of Danubian countries. Jugoslavia explained that She had left the session because a majority of the members refused to accept her amendments to the Soviet draft of the basic navigation rules. This dispute Concerns two different sectors of the Danube. The first sector comprises long stretches of the river under the control of the Soviet bloc, stretching as far West as the Russian zone of Austria and as far east ks the Slack Sea. The second sector is a key stretch of more than 200 miles passing through Jugoslavia, between Hungary and Rumania. This stretch is used by Russian and Soviet satellite vessels. The latest Jugoslav action is not reSarded as a Complete breach with the lanube Commission. It is reported that Marshal Tito is anxious to avoid a breach because of his already attained relations with the Cominform.