SOVIET MAY FORCE BREAK-UP OF JOINT RULE IN BERLIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22593, 23 March 1948, Page 5

SOVIET MAY FORCE BREAK-UP OF JOINT RULE IN BERLIN

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyright.) (11 a.m.) BERLIN. March 22. The Russians, who hold the chairmanship of the Allied Control Council and all committees this month, and thus can cancel meetings at will, announced that all Control Council and committee

meetings have been postponed indefinitely,

A meeting of the man-power directorate and three other minor committee meetings, due to be held today, were cancelled without explanation except that the Russian delegates were “very busy.” The inter-Allled Kommandatura was still functioning this afternoon, but high United States officials said there are strong indications that it would break up soon. They expect the Russians will call a special meeting of the four Allied commanders within a few days- and announce that four-Power rule of the city has ended. An American official on the Kommandatura said: “The Russians have been building up for a break for weeks. They have been increasingly un-co-operative while blaming the Western representatives for the lack of progress.”

The Russians this morning attended only one meeting with the Western Powers—the secretaries’ meeting at which the Russians announced the cancellation of the Allied co-ordinating committee tomorrow.

General Lucius Clay, the United States occupation chief, commenting on the renewed suggestions in the Russian-controlled newspapers that the Western Powers should leave Berlin, said: “We are in Berlin by agreement and intend to stay.”