RUSSIAN REVENGE

Southland Times, Issue 20200, 10 June 1927, Page 6

RUSSIAN REVENGE

The assassination of Voikoff on the railway station at Warsaw, like the murder of the Soviet representative at’Geneva a year or so ago, was an act entirely without international significance, although the Russian Government seems determined to give it the appearance of a step in an organised effort to make the diplomatic representation of Russia in foreign countries impossible. If Voikoff signed the death warrant of the Tsar and his family and was present at that brutal slaughter, the fact that he was the object of monarchist hatred is not surprising. It will be remembered that the Bolsheviks were so nervous of the Ekaterinburg massacre that they denied the story for a long time and persisted that it had no official sanction, but later the facts came out and the Soviet was compelled to publish an official story, though it persisted in the contention that the Moscow Government knew nothing of the ghastly business until it was over. There are good reasons for believing that the Moscow Government was not entirely free from blame, but even if it were the use of the man who signed the death warrant and supervised the killing, if these stories are true, can only have the effect of revealing the Soviet’s endorsement of what was done. Diplomatic representatives are granted powerful privileges and it is the duty of the Government to which they are accredited to afford them reasonable protection, but if Kowerda acted alone and was moved to avenge the death of the Tsar and his family, the Polish Government cannot be blamed. Clashes between the two sections of Russians cannot be avoided, but Governments generally will be induced by these incidents to make refugees understand that however much they may feel justified in taking violent measures against prominent Bolsheviks, they cannot b® permitted to satisfy their personal desires to the detriment of international relations. The anxiety of the Polish Government to explain the situation to the Russian Government is obvious, but no good, outside of Russia, is likely to come from the attempt to link this deed with the Arcos raid. One was a legitimate police investigation which revealed evidence convicting the Russians , f acts contravening their solemn undertakings; the assassination on the Warsaw railway station was the act of a Russian seeking to avenge the murder of his monarch and family in circumstances recalling medieval violence.