NOT OFFICIAL MISSION

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23014, 4 October 1944, Page 7

NOT OFFICIAL MISSION

British And Americans In Sofia LONDON, October 2. In a reference to the report by the Ankara radio that the Russian High Command requested the British and American Military Mission to leave Sofia, it is stated here that certain British and American officers were at Sofia before the Russians arrived, but they in no sense formed part of any official mission. There was no British or American mission in Bulgaria when the armistice with Bulargia was signed. Any mission that went to Sofia would form part of the Inter-Allled Committee of Control. A Washington message says that; replying to questions regarding Russia’s ejection of an Allied military mission from Bulgaria, the Secretary of State (Mr Cordell Hull) told a Press conference that the request to leave was due to a misunderstanding. The matter involved only local questions of no special importance which had since bteen straightened out. Mr Hull said that the Bulgarian armistice terms would be ready in due course. Meanwhile he could not help noticing the lack of speed with which Bulgaria was pulling out of Greece ar.d Yugoslavia. Mr Hull pointed out that the withdrawal of Bulgarian ttoops from Greece and Yugoslavia was one of the terms of the armistice, which also requires Bulgaria to retire to her 1932 boundaries.