RUSSIANS WALK OUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22363, 23 June 1947, Page 4

RUSSIANS WALK OUT

U.N. MILITARY COP/3MITTEE PROCEDURE DISPUTED v NEW YORK, June 20. The Soviet representatives withdrew from a meeting of the' United Nations Military Staff Committee today after a disagreement on procedure. The committee had met to act on an Australian request for the clarificatiop. of two articles in the committee’s report which is now under consideration by the Security Council. M. Gromyko told reporters later that this did not mean that Russia would boycott the military staff committee meetings. He had explained to the Security Council that the Soviet military representatives had refused to take part in the discussions because he felt it was improper for the committee to consider questions from individual nations on the council and that it should act only on questions submitted by the council itself. M. Gromyko said that Russia would not consider itself bound by any action taken by individual representatives of the other four Powers on fhe committee, United States, Britain, France and China. He said the questions committee had met to consider a question which had been put by Australia and not by the council and that the committee had received no instructions from the council to answer them.

Later, the Security Council received a communication from the chairman of the Military Staff Committee stating that the committee did not intend at present to reconsider any articles in its report unless specifically directed to do so by the Security Council. However, the Security Council received replies individually drafted by the other members, except Russia, of the military staff committee. The committee’s report dealt with the proposed world police force and the points which Australia had asked to be clarified were technical and not considered to involve questions of substance.