FEAR OF GREAT CATASTROPHE THREATENING RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16849, 14 May 1918, Page 5

FEAR OF GREAT CATASTROPHE THREATENING RUSSIA.

GROWING MENACE OF COMPLETE GERMAN DOMINATION Times. LONDON, May 12.

The Moscow correspondent of the Times states that Russia again Beems dangerously near the final catastrophe. The cry is that the Germans will shortly occupy Pttrograd and Moscow. This is based on the belief that the Bolshevik dictators will not yield to a series of German ultimatums, or that submission has been made purposely impossible The people now recognise that it is only the German will which counts. Some welcome the invasions, hoping that they will terminate the present chaos. The demands of the German Ambassador include the immediate return of all German prisoners, the restoration of order, for which purpose the. Soviet forces are considered insufficient, and the surrender of the forts connected with the system of fortifications at Kronstadt. The Commissaries sit in constant session, sending protests to Berlin, which remains uncompromising. Tt is stated that two German divisions from Pskoff will occupy Petrograd unless the Soviet submits. Re,l(er MOSCOW, May 12. Many political and criminal prisoners have been released, including the ex-War Minister, M. Sukhomlinoff, and other Ministers of the Romanoff and Kerensky regimes, except those charged with high treason and embezzlement. Refugees from Riga state that numerous German troops have been recently hurriedly sent to the west front. '■Australian and N.Z Cable Association. WASHINGTON. May 12. Official advices received by the State Department say that Philip Scheidemann, the German Socialist leader, denounced in the Reichstag the dispersal of the Ukrainian Rada by the German military authorities. He pointed out that although peace had been signed between the countries, five Ministers and the documents of the Rada had been seized,