RUSSIAN-CZECH TREATY

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 December 1943, Page 6

RUSSIAN-CZECH TREATY

POSITION OF POLAND

LONDON, December 14. | The ratification of the Russian-; Czech treaty will take place as soon as possible and the ratification docu-. ments will be exchanged in Moscow. The treaty has been concluded for zu years from the time of signing, and, if one signatory does not give notice 12 months before the end of The period, the treaty will be automatically prolonged for another five years , A protocol, attached, stresses that ifa third Power who is not an ally oil Germany should wish to join in the treaty this will be made possible on mutual agreement. After signing the treaty Mr Kalinin and the Czech President (Dr. Eenes) spoke expressing great satisfaction with the treaty and emphasising its importance in the fight of all freedom-loving peoples. The “New York Times,” commenting on the Czecho-Russian treaty, says: “When the bilateral treaty negotiations between the two countries started, the British Government placed obstacles in the way, because it feared a pact might cause dissension among the Poles and other exiled Allied governments, suspicious of Russian intentions. It was also feared that it might provide new .material for German propaganda, using the ‘Bolshevist bogy’ to create dissension among the Allies. The signing of the treaty indicates that, either in Moscow dr at the Teheran conference, some progress was made towards a close alignment of policy between the Kremlin and Downing Street.” Authoritative Polish quarters in London, commenting on the RussoCzech treaty, said that the treaty ,is based on the principle'of the Soviet Union’s respect of Czechoslovakia independence and sovereignty, and the Soviet Union’s non-interference with Czechoslovakia’s internal affairs. If the Soviet Union would apply the same principle to the Polish Republic the Polish Government would be ready to sign a tripartite treaty within 24 hours. MISSION TO’"JUGOSLAVIA LONDON, December 14. “The Soviet has decided to send a military mission to Jugoslavia, as Britain has already done, to obtain more detailed information about events in that country and about guerrilla organisations,” says the Moscow radio.

“Events in Jugoslavia, which have already met with a sympathetic response by Britain and America, are regarded by the Soviet as positive factors furthering the successful struggles of the people of Jugoslavia against Hitlerite Germany. They are also a testimony to the significant success of Jugoslavia’s new leaders in uniting all the national forces of Jugoslavia. From this point of view the activities of General Mikhailovic’s Chetniks who, according to reports, have so far not helped but rather harmed Jugoslavia’s struggle for liberation, cannot but meet with a negative result on the part of the Soviet.”