'Ludicrous'

Northern Advocate, 5 October 1948, Page 5

'Ludicrous'

Referring to the latest Russian Note, which asks for a conference of the Council of Foreign Ministers, he added:

“Isn’t it strange that when action is required by this body it finds itself frozen out?”

M. Vyshinsky said no blockade existed, because the Soviet Government had offered to supply food and coal to the Western zones. “All rumours about bad conditions in Berlin are spread with the object of deepening fear and war hysteria.” he continued. *

He rejected categorically Allied charges that the Russian authorities-in Berlin had encouraged recent Communist action in the German capital. He called this charge “ludicrous.” M. Vyshinsky concluded that the United Nations Charter forbade the Security Council from discussing anything concerning Germany until the four occupying powers had written the peace treaty. The Foreign Ministers’ Council offered the only “legal way of settling the- problem of Germany, including Berlin,” M. Vyshinsky declared. To include the Berlin question on the Security Council agenda would be a violation of the United Nations Charter, and Russia would not be a party to such violation.