SOVIET REMAINS SUSPICIOUS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 11

SOVIET REMAINS SUSPICIOUS

Good Faith Of Britain

And France

ROLE OF A HIRED MAN IN EUROPE

By Telegraph.—Press Assn,—Copyright. . MOSCOW, June 29.

The Soviet Press chief, M. Zhdanov,, in an article in the “Pravda,” the official Soviet journal, in anticipation of the renewed approach by the British and French Ambassadors to the Foreign Minister, declares that everything indicates that Britain and France do not want -an agreement based on equality and reciprocity; they want an agreement under which Russia will play the role of a hired man carrying on his shoulders the entire burden of engagement. “No self-respecting country,” says the “Pravda,” “would accept such an agreement if it does not want to be a plaything in the hands of people who want someone to pull tli.eir hot coals out of the fire. It seems that. Britain and France only want conversations about an agreement in order to exploit Russia’s imaginary stubbornness in their own countries, thus helping' them to strike a bargain with aggressors,. “Despite the extreme clarity of Russia’s position, they have not been able to make appreciable progress in the negotiations, which have entered a blind alley. This cannot fail to have serious significance in the present international situation and to. stimulate aggressors to further activity.” The Soviet Government has ordered the publication of M. Zhdanov’s article in every provincial paper throughout the Soviet Union.