MOTIVE FOR THE DEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19658, 9 June 1927, Page 11

MOTIVE FOR THE DEED.

VOIKOFF'S LURID PAST. INVOLVED IN TSAR'S DEATH. SAW ROYAL FAMILY SHOT. COMMUNIST BEFORE THE WAR. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copjricht. (Received Juno 8. 5.S p.m.) Sun. LONDON", Juno 7. Clearly the murder of Mr. Voikoff was an act of revenge, said Mr. Sabline, who was Russian Charge d'Affaires in London under the regime of the Tsar, in an interview published in tho Evening News. He said the victim of the crime had always been associated with the murder of the Tsar and his family at Ekaterinburg. The News says Mr. Voikoff was president of the Ekaterinburg Soviet in 1919 and that as such he signed the deathwarrant for the murder of the Tsar and his family. He was. it says, actually present in the cellar when they were shot. Ever since then Mr. Voikoff had been the most hated of all Bolsheviks. Ho was one of the original members of the Russian Communist Party before the war. For some time ho was in prison. Later he went to Switzerland and came under tho influence of Lenin when ho was a student at Geneva University. Mr Voikoff accompanied Lenin to Russia during the war to foment the revolution. In 1923 he was appointed head of the Russian trade delegation to Canada. His appointment was cancelled by tho Canadian Government when his association with tho murder of the Tsar became known. ' '