“Russian People Want Peace"

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 16

“Russian People Want Peace"

More than anything the people of Russia wanted peace, the Soviet Minister to New Zealand (Mr B. Y. Dorofeev) said in Christchurch last night.

Addressing a meeting called by the Workers’ Education Association, Mr Dorofeev said the Russian people had suffered too greatly during the Second World War to want any more of it. The nation had lost 20,000,000 people, and 32,000 factories had been destroyed during the war, which had cost the country £120,000 million.

No-one would benefit from another war. No class in the Soviet Union would profit from a war economically. The country was extremely rich in natural resources, so that there was no reason for war. Mr Dorofeev said his coun-

try wanted to continue its policy of peaceful co-existence and expand its contacts with countries which did not share its ideological beliefs. Economic Aid As proof of its good intentions, the Soviet Union was offering massive aid to underdeveloped Asian and African countries and low rates of interest. Repayments were be ing accepted in the form of products from the countries benefiting. The Soviet Union was at present sponsoring 600 projects in other countries and had completed 190 of them. Soviet universities and technical institutes had offered training to 27,000 students from developing nations during the last 10 years. The Soviet Union had greatly improved its economic relations with several Western countries, and now British and Italian firms were building motor-vehicles in Russia. Trade With N.Z. Mr Dorofeev said there was room for greater trade between his country and New Zealand, and there should be moves to correct the heavy imbalance, which favoured New Zealand by about £3 million to £200,000. Efforts to import more Soviet goods in New Zealand had been thwarted by the Government, which had refused licences. He listed a range of goods including machinery, rifles, microscopes, and fertilisers, that New Zealand could buy from Russia. Mr Dorofeev listed education, medical care, and pensions as the chief accomplishment in Russia since the war. Education was free, there were 24 doctors to every 10,000 people, and people retired on 90 per cent of their salaries. Industrial output had risen 800 per cent since the war, and 40 million acres of land had been brought into production in Siberia. During the new five-year plan, huge industrial expansion would take place in eastern Russia, where huge power stations were now under construction to exploit the natural wealth of the area.