RUSSIA NOT TO SIGN

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11437, 6 February 1923, Page 6

RUSSIA NOT TO SIGN

THE FAILURE AT LAUSANNE FUTURE CONTROL OF THE BLACK SEA. SOVIET AND BRITAIN. LAUSANNE, December 18. The acceptance by the Turkish delegation of the fundamental principle 'of the freedom of the Straits marked the final failure of the tactics adopted by the Russians since their arrival at Lausanne. . . Ismet Pasha’s undertaking to join tho League was the first breakaway from the Russians, and' now he turned his back on them entirely. I had an interview late last night (“Daily News” special correspondent) with M. Chicherin, and asked him what,. Russia’s next step would be. He rgplied that that was uncertain, as it was not clear as to what would be the future course of the negotiations. “You will not sign the Treaty in any case?” I asked. “Of course not,” he replied M. Chicherin was still labouring under the impression, with which he appears to have come to Lausanne, that the Allies’ attitude towards Russia was one of hostility. That he himself has created an atmosphere of hostility naturally does not occur to him. “UNFRIENDLY SPIRIT.” It was in this frame of mind that he commented on the Conferehce: “The manner in which the Conference has been conducted,” he said, “shows an unfriendly 6pirit towards Russia. There hhve been no real negotiations with the Russian representatives. > It was impossible for the Russian delegation to 6tate what concessions it would have made in the course of such negotiations, because there was a rejection en bios of the Russian scheme without any attempt to come to an agreement on the ground of mutual concessions. The aggressive attitude of the Allies towards Russia was maintained throughout, and I have received a large number of telegrams from local bodies in Russia saying that this fact has created an extremely strong feeling against Great Britain. “The newly elected Moscow Soviet at its first meeting has adopted a resolution saying that it demands that not one step backwards be made in the diplomatic struggle against these hostile scheme?, and declaring that the whole people will stand as one man in the struggle for the vital interests of Russia.” BRITISH CONTROL OF STRAITS. “So long as the British control of the Straits was a temporary fact, it was not regarded very seriously, but now that a Treaty is about to be signed making British control of the Black Sea a permanent and legally recognised fact, people in Russia regard it as a hostile! system directed against her vital interests.” I asked M. Chicherin if he suggested that France and the other Allied countries were consenting to British control of the Black Sea. “That is so,” he replied. You see no road to a rapprochement between England and Russia?” “So long as the system the British Government wishes to set ur> in this Treaty is insisted upon,” he replied, “I see no possibility of any serious rapprochement between the two countries.”. M. Chicherin asked me to deny a report concerning his interview with Lord Curzon, in which it was stated that he had not demanded recognition

for the Soviet, had expressed disappointment with the working of tne trade agreement, and had stated that the Soviet Government was not always responsible for the actions of its agents. “We do demand recognition,” he said. TURKS AND GREEKS. Later. The Sub-Commission on Minorities made a certain amount of headway, having reached an agreeemnt on several points under discussion, but a “breeze” between M. Yenizelos and the Turkish delegate interrupted the course of the proceedings. M. Venizelos protested bitterly against the driving- out of the Greeks from Asia Minor, using some rather vehement language. The Turkish delegate retorted in equally warm language, and it was thought best to adjourn the sitting. It lias always been recognised that one of the most difficult problems with which the Lausanne Conference has tc deal is that of the Capitulations. At the present moment a deadlock seems to have been arrived at in the Sub-Commission dealing with tbis qoestion. Turkey wishes to do away with guarantees altogether, asserting that her judicial system is as good as that of any other country, but if this is so, foreigners at Smyrna and Constantinople have little faith in its administration. as reports reaching here show that the big trading houses, both French and British, contemplate winding up.