RUSSIA IN EUROPE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 5

RUSSIA IN EUROPE

Suspicions Ridiculed

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.-Copyright.) (Received February 20, 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, February 20. Marshal Stalin declared to jeamng members of the Moscow Diplomatic Corps that Russia had no intention whatsoever of expanding into central or, western Europe, says the “Observers special correspondent.

Ridiculing suspicions voiced in some quarters abroad that Russia was aiming at domination in Europe, Marshal btaun said : “Those who think I would ever embark on an adventurous path of conquest, blatantly under-estimate my sense ot the realities. People who make, analogies between Hitler and myself simply show they know nothing about politics. He added that his policy was dictated by Russia’s strategic needs, which re

quired territorial and political readjustments in eastern Europe. Russia was firmly resolved to insist on such readjustments but she made no claims beyond the sphere of her immediate strategic interest.

Marshal Stalin reiterated Ins eagerness to come to terms with M. Mikoiajczky’s Polish Government, and. to hand over the administration of Polish territories west of the Curzon Line as soon as they were free of the enemy..

The Curzon Line, suggested at the lime of the Versailles Peace Conterence, follows almost exactly the demarcation line laid down between Russia and Germany at the time of the partition of Poland in 1939. Its chief variation is in the LvovLemberg area, in which the Curzon Line runs a little more to the eastward.

CAN HANDLE FINNS Russia In No Mood For Haggling (Received February 20, 9.40 p.m.) LONDON, February 20. The Finnish Minister of the Interior, M. Ebrnroth, has left. Stockholm for Helsinki by air. The Finnish diplomat, M. Paasiki'vi, is remaining in Stockholm. The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press says that the Russians are in no mood for haggling or bargaining with the Finns. The longer the Finns hesitate, the tougher will be the settlement. The Russians are confident they can handle the Finns from the military viewpoint any time they think it necessary. The diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that the British Government will facilitate in every way the peace efforts Finland is now making. Though Britain is formally at war with Finland, arrangements will ba made, if necessary, for the safe conduct of Finnish negotiators through Britain to Moscow, and a British plane may be placed at the disposal of delegates going to Moscow. It is possible that the armistice will he followed by a formal peace treaty between Finland and Russia. Other United Nations are not likely to object. The treaty will be a model of the settlements which other Axis satellites may expect.