RUSSIAN-POLISH DISPUTE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 January 1944, Page 5

RUSSIAN-POLISH DISPUTE

MR. EDEN’S STATEMENT

PEACE-MAKING EFFORTS

RUGBY, January 19. The Foreign Secretary (Mr. Eden) informed the Commons that the British Government was giving constant thought to the Russo-Pohsh dispute and was in close touch with both the Allies. He also answered questions about the Greek and Jugoslav guerrillas;. In answer to several questions about Soviet-Polish relations, the Foreign Secretary said: “I do noc think it would be a good thing to try to discuss all these equally difficult and delicate matters at question time. Naturally, they are absorbing the constant thought of the British Government, particularly the Foreign Office, and we are in the closest touch with both our Allies, the Russian Government and the Polish Government in London. Our prevailing desire is to bring about a friendly settlement between the two countries, and this achievement would have the utmost consequence for the future of Europe. We are not without hope that a favourable solution may be attained. I am sure the House will feel that the utmost reserve should be practised atthis particular moment, and I feel confident that in these circumstances I may count upon the assistance of members of the House.”

MOSCOW. PRESS ALLEGATION.

(Rec. 11.40 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 19. Poland originally intended to fight beside Germany, alleges the Moscow journal, Wai’ and the Working Class, according to the Columbia Broadcasting System’s Moscow correspondent. It says:—The emigre Polish Government and its supporters are opposing by every means the creation of friendly relations between . Poland and Russia. Before the war the policy of Poland was directed to support the predatory plans of the aggressors. The Polish Government intended to participate in the war on the side, of Hitlerite Germany. The entire foreign policy of Poland since 1934 was directed to this end. Poland acted otherwiseonly because Hitler decided to transform it into a victim instead of an ally. The C.B.S. adds: The appearance of the article at this moment is highly significant.

GERMAN PEACE PROPOSALS

LONDON. January 19

The Moscow radio last night broadcast a Tass Russian News Agency despatch from London, dated Sunday last, January 16, reporting a story that was published in the London “Sunday Times,” about alleged German peace proposals made to Turkey two months ago. * Turkey had, according to the “Sunday Times’s” Ankara correspondent, refused to pass on these terms to the Allies, and similar proposals were then made in Stockholm and Lisbon. One proposal was that Germany would renounce her claim to colonies if given limited freedom of action in the East. The Tass Agency’s report was an accurate reproduction of the “Sunday Times’s” article, and it was given the heading “British Correspondent on German Peace Proposals.”

RUSSIAN PUBLICITY

(Rec. 10.15 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 19. The first Moscow statement emphasising the,.., unity of the Allies — Russia, Britain and the United States — till victory is -won and the need for their co-operation afterwards was broadcast last night by the Moscow radio, says the “Daily Telegraph.” . Both the authorship of the article expressing these views and the occasion of the broadcast following the world-wide publicity given the “Pravda” report that von Ribbentrop had had peace talks with leading British figures in the Iberian Peninsula are to be noted. The author is a leading member of the Central Committee of the Comntunist Party in Russia, Dmitri Muniulsky, one of the most influential Russian publicists and an old and valued friend of Mr. Stalin.

Earlier in the evening Moscow had broadcast the British Government’s caegorical denial of the “fantastic” report that “Pravda” had published. The attention of Ihe Russian Government had officially been called to this denial by the British Charge d’Affaires in Moscow. Mr. John Balfour. This British denial was included by Moscow radio in the home service bulletin at 9.30 p.m. Before midnight Mr. Manuilsky’s article had been broadcast. It was primarily addressed to the Russian people and began by paying a tribute to the achievements of the Red Army.

The article also referred to the importance of the Soviet in The post-war world and added: “The Teheran Conference, the first meeting between the leaders of the three Powers of the world, demonstrated the unity of the Soviet. Britain and the United States, their firm belief in victory over Germany and her vassals, also their determination to continue their, close co-operation after the war.” “That Moscow radio should have chosen to broadcast this article will be regarded as an indication that the Soviet authorities are concerned to check the conclusions which the ‘Pravda’ report occasioned in some circles,” said the “Daily Telegraph.”

GERMAN “SUPERIOR SMILE”

(Recd. 11.25 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 19. The German Foreign Office Spokesman, commenting on the “Pravda” report of a. meeting between von Ribbentrop and British officials, said official German circles have only a superior smile for this type of news. It is evidently meant as a reprisal for British and American interference in the Polish problem, which Stalin wishes to solve single-handed. The Vichy radio says authoritative sources in Spain deny that von Ribbentrop has recently been there. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that the Foreign Office denial of the story was published in the same form and place in ‘Pravda” as the oroginal message from Cairo. A denial was also published in other principal newspapers, including “Izvestia” and “Red Star.”

The National Broadcasting Company's reporter in Stockholm says that Stockholm newspapers to-day published a story that Hitler had despatched semi-official representatives to Ankara to discuss separate peace terms with Russia. The story was credited to the Geneva newspaper “La Suisse.”