AID TO RUSSIA

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIV, Issue 22671, 26 August 1943, Page 5

AID TO RUSSIA

Lend-Lease Shipments (10.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aug- 24. The value of lend-lease aid o ussia was sharply cut In recent months in spite of a statement by Mr Eaward Stettinius (Lease-Lend Administrator) in January that Russia had become a major beneficiary, and would e even greater supplies during 19»u . -ms is revealed bv the newspaper "P M. The Soviet share in February equalled about one-third, being the highest point ever reached, says the paper. “By June it was less than one-sixth, while Britain reached a new high level of more than one half. These figures have not previously been released by the Government, but the downward trend in the value of shipments was admitted when an article was submitted to the Lend-Lease Office before publication. Officials explained that the value of shipments decreased because the Russians were desperately “ need of food, and took a low level of foodstuff cargoes in preference to mgner value of arms. ‘ln some cases we had munitions ready to move, but the Russians decided to use the shipping space to take food.' said an official. "PM” says: “The shift from arms to foodstuffs confirms previous statements bv President Roosevelt that Russian resistance was largely dependent on the Russians’ own production capacity. An examination of the published figures shows that lend-lease is run as an Anglo-American consortium rather than a United Nations affair. By April 1 lend-lease exports to Russia totalled 1,822,000,000 dollars compared with 3.116.000.000 dollars tn Britain, or 4,987,000.000 to the British Empire. There is no indication of any increase in shipping allotted to Russia which would enable the shipment of arms as well as food.”