ATTACK ON THE FINNS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21558, 22 January 1940, Page 2

ATTACK ON THE FINNS

RIBBENTROP PAVED THE WAY It is perhaps not generally recognised how far the German Government is responsible for the Russian invasion of Finland, wrote the diplomatic correspondent of the London "Daily Telegraph” on December 4. There is the strongest circumstantial evidence to support the statement that the Kremlin made it a condition of concluding an agreement with Berlin in August that Russia should be allowed to occupy strategic positions in the Baltic States and Finland, Whether the German service chiefs were consulted before von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, went to Moscow and agreed to these terms is not known for certain. Reports from many sources suggest that the German navy chiefs, in particular, were furious when they learned that control of three-quarters of the Baltic had been handed over to the Russians as the price of dubious collaboration in the German plans for European expan-

The fact remains that von Ribbentrop prevailed on Hitler to accept the terms in the conviction that the RussoGerman agreement would deter Britain and France from war with Germany. That these were the Russian terms is evident from the fact, well known at the time and now not denied in the most responsible quarters, that the Kremlin tried to obtain similar terms from France and Britain earlier this, year when the Western Powers were negotiating for a pact against aggression by which it was hoped to stop Germany in her headlong course. Persistent Demands Britain and France were met, during those negotiations, by persistent Russian demands which, if granted, would have prejudiced the integrity of the Baltic States and Finland. The neutral States concerned strongly petitioned Britain and France not to assent to any arrangement which might have this effect. At first the Western negotiators were asked only to consider, from the Russian standpoint, the danger of "indirect aggression” through these neighbour countries. But when the Joint Anglo-French staff missions arrived in Moscow it became clear that the Russian demands were precisely those which have been imposed on a helpless Poland, hace been obtained by powerpolitical methods from the Baltic States, and are now the object of flagrant aggression on Finland. Britain and France declined to be associated with such Russian aims. Germany, on the other hand, did not hesitate to barter away the freedom of other countries as the price of a promise of Russian “benevolent neutrality.” Reports from the Balkans have indicated for many weeks that the Kremlin plans to extend its influence in that area whenever opportunity presents. Some observers consider that Russia aims not only to recover her former Bessarabian territory from Rumania, but also to extend this to full control over the mouths of the Danube. Annexation of Ruthenia from Hungary and Bukovina from Rumania would be further features of this plan.