WHY DID STALIN SPEAK AT THIS PRESENT JUNCTURE?

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 October 1946, Page 5

WHY DID STALIN SPEAK AT THIS PRESENT JUNCTURE?

Recd. 7.50 p.m. London, Oct. 30. One of the questions being asked about Stalin's replies to the United Press questionnaire is: Why he should have chosen this moment for making his views known, especially as in a week’s time, namely, Red Army Day, on November 7, he will have the opportunity of making one of his usual long statements. Commenting on this, “The Times’ ” diplomatic correspondent says Soviet authorities are always sensitive to British and American public opinion, and they are well aware that since Stalin’s last statement a month ago, their actions and policies have been criticised even more strongly than before. Perhaps even if the United Nations’ Assembly were not meeting and the Foreign Ministers’ Council about to meet, Stalin would have thasjht it timely to restate the Soviet policy, but the holding of the two meetings in New York probably clinched matters for him. Soviet delegates will probably put forward their po" '

motives may be less suspect as the result of Stalin’s statements. The correspondent says Stalin's statements on Germany are regarded as most important, because it is felt they have brought nearer the possibility of agreement in the impending Four Power discussions on Germany’s future. London political circles, after giving Stalin’s statement most careful consideration, express the opinion that Stalin deliberately drew a restrained and unprovocative picture of Soviet general policy in striking contrast to the tone of the Soviet daily propaganda. His statement that there are 60 Russian divisions in eastern Euiope, and a denial that Russia has developed an atomic bomb were obviously designed to silence alarmists. It is noted that Stalin declined to be drawn into counter-attacks against the West, when questioned about British troops in Greece and American warships in the Mediterranean.