SOVIET POLICY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 8 February 1944, Page 2

SOVIET POLICY

RIGHTS OF REPUBLICS

PROSPECTIVE NEW MEMBERS CONJECTURE ON INTENT OF REFORMS (Rec. 9.55 a.m.) London, Feb. 7. Considerable interest is being taken in constitutional changes in Russia whereby each of the sixteen constituent republics have their own Commissariats of defence and foreign affairs, with the right of separate diplomatic representation. The suggestion of the Soviet desire to multiply their representation at the Peace Conference is generally dismissed.

“The Observer” expresses the opinion that the semi-independence granted the present members of the Soviet may make little difference to them, but will smooth the way for the acces sion of prospective new members. It is the declared purpose of the Soviet to reabsorb the Baltic States. Bessarabia and provinces taken from Poland in 1939, and from Finland in 1940. The treaty recently concluded between M. Molotov and Dr. Benes implies farreaching social and economic assimilation of Czechoslovakia to the Soviet, making Czechoslovakia a “satellite.” Dr. Benes and the Russians made it clear that they would like Poland to cL likewise. Entering the “realm of speculation.” “The Observer” says: “There is nothing fantastic in the notion that some of the German people’s republics could easily be accommodated among the satellites.” SOVIET-POLISH CONFLICT The Russian correspondent of “The Observer,” referring to the right of various republics to enter direct relations with foreign states, says that while such treaties technically do not require counter-signature, it would not be possible for them to run counter to Moscow’s wishes. “But Moscow will have new room tactically to manoeuvre by not being formally bound by diplomatic commitments and obligations of the new Commissars. By this move it is almost certain that the Polish-Soviet conflict has entered a new phase. Claims against Poland will be made by Ukrainians and Byelo Russians The Soviet Union, as a whole, will only indirectly, though no doubt decisively, be involved and Ukrainians and Byelo Russians wil be much more exacting in their dreams on Poland than even Moscow itself has been ”

“The Economist” says: “For the moment these dramatic reforms can only be explained in terms of Russian foreign policy. The Soviet armies have reached the Estonian border and the future of the Baltic republics must now be decided. Estonia. Latvia and Lithuania may be more willing to accept incorporation into the Soviet if given formal constitutional guarantees of wide autonomy. Similarly there are settlements to be made with Poland and Finland. Claims against Poland can now be laid from Kiev, the centre of the Ukrainian government, and from Minsk, the capital of Byelo Russia. Claims against Finland can be raised by the Foreign Commissar of the Ka-relo-Finnish republics, and claims against Rumania by a spokesman of the Soviet. Russian diplomacy will have more room for manoeuvre.”—P.A. Special correspondent.