KUHLMANN EXPLAINS POSITION.

Evening Star, Issue 16665, 22 February 1918, Page 3

KUHLMANN EXPLAINS POSITION.

Admiralty per Wireless Pres«. LONDON, February 20. Russian official: Germany has acknowledged receipt of the Russian peace offer. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. AMSTERDAM, February 20. Von Kuhlmann, German Foreign Minister, addressing the Reichstag Committee, said that Russian appeals for help were daily becoming more numerous and more urgent. Germany could not tolerate the destruction of young Finland or the outrages in Lithuania and Esthonia, nor permit the Bolsheviks to carry otit their threats agaiffst the Ukraine. The cession of Kholm had created a had. impression, but it was" the only decision possible without blocking peace* with the Ukraine. The Austrian Premier had declared that Kholm would not be ceded to the .Ukraine, but a mixed commission of Poles and the Ukrainians would consider the matter ethnographically. and_ if necessary the boundaries would be moved eastwards. 'The Times.' AMSTERDAM. February 20. • Von KuhlrnAnn, in the Reichstag, said: The new war against Russia will '.strengthen the Bolsheviks' inclinations towards peace. Germany no longer believes in Russia's professions, and must consequently enforce order and peace in the occupied, regions. Even to-day we are willing to conclude a peace corresponding with our own particular interests. A decisive factor in the Ukrainian peace was the valuable economic advantages Germany will gain during 1918.