Soviet May Negotiate Separate Peace Treaty With Eastern Germany

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27213, 17 October 1949, Page 5

Soviet May Negotiate Separate Peace Treaty With Eastern Germany

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9.26 pm. BERLIN, Oct. 16. Russia has decided to exchange diplomatic missions with the East German Government, according to a Tass message from Moscow issued in Berlin last night by the Russian-licensed news agency. The United Press Berlin correspondent says this move, made only nine days after the formation of the East German State, and closely following Mr Stalin’s message of friendship for the new regime, is believed to be the forerunner of a separate peace treaty between Russia and Eastern Germany.

In London the Sunday Times diplomatic correspondent says it now seems certain that, in an attempt to offset Marshal Tito's defection, the Soviet Government has decided that top priority should be given to the full incorporation of Eastern Germany into the Soviet bloc of satellite States.

The paper says the Soviet Government is- only awaiting what it judges to be the psychological moment to demand a peace treaty for Germany and the withdrawal of all occupation troops. Russia hopes that the illfeeling caused in Western Germany by dismantling and the potential dissension between the Western Allies about Germany's future may swing German public opinion in favour of the Soviet proposals. The correspondent says it is a slender hope, but the stakes arc high. The British Government accordingly is believed to be urging that as part of the process of consolidating Western Germany, Berlin should become an integral part of the new Federal Republic. A British Foreign Office spokesman described as “ nonsensical ” a London newspaper report that the Western Powers would conclude a separate peace treaty with the Bonn Government if the Soviet Union signed one with the East German regime. “Though the Russians have so far followed us in everything we have done in West Germany, it does not follow that we will copy them in what they do in East Germany,” he said. The Times, in a leading article, warns the Western Powers that while they need feel no particular alarm at the birth of the East German Republic so long as they can avoid a new conflict over Berlin, it would be a mistake to believe that the new regime has no substance. “ Instead of pretending that it does not exist, it would be wiser to recognise it for what it is—namely, one more so-called people’s democracy dependent on Russian support, lacking popular backing, riddled with obvious weaknesses, and yet, in spite of these things, imbued with a revolutionary toughness which may, in the end, produce results. It widens the division of Germany, and is a challenge to the Western Powers which cannot be ignored.”