RUSSIA SEEKING FULL MILITARY ALLIANCE

Southland Times, Issue 23823, 22 May 1939, Page 7

RUSSIA SEEKING FULL MILITARY ALLIANCE

THREE-POWER PACT OPPOSED BY BRITAIN PLEDGES TO POLAND AND RUMANIA SUGGESTED I (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Received May 21, 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. The British negotiations with Russia in an endeavour to build up a “peace front” against aggression will form the, basis of conversations in Paris between the Foreign Secretary (Viscount Halifax) and the French leaders today. The points of both parties are now more fully appreciated, and it is common ground between them that renewed aggression must be prevented or resisted, says a British Official Wireless message.

According to the Independent Cable Service the position at present is that Russia is insisting on a three-Power alliance, military staff talks and the fullest possible co-operation. The latest British proposals, although an advance on the earlier ideas, still turn down a three-Power pact and suggest that Russia should immediately guarantee Poland and Rumania, in return for which Britain proposes to “consult Russia and France about means of defending Russia against an attack resulting from the honouring of her pledges to Poland and Rumania.

The diplomatic correspondents of most of the London newspapers, notably excepting The Times, profess themselves unable to explain why Britain does not accept the Russian proposals, in view of the serious position that will be created if Russia withdraws from the talks entirely.