THHEAT TO FINLAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 83, 3 November 1939, Page 5

THHEAT TO FINLAND

DEMANDS BY RUSSIAN PRESIDENT ONLY 'MORAL' SUPPORT FOR NAZIS The speech ol M. Molotoff, President and Foreign Minister of Soviet Russia, to the Supreme Council, indicated a veiled threat to Finland, should that country fail to accept the Soviet demands as the other Baltic countries had done. He disclosed that the demands included provision for the exchange of a strip of land, another near Leningrad, and also the right to lease an island in; the Gulf of Finland for military purposes, both of which the Finns were resisting. The Finnish Government were very concerned at the premature disclosure of the Russian demands on Finland, this being made at a moment when the Finnish delegates were on their way to confer with the Soviet. A new and difficult situation had been created. The Finnish delegation which has now arrived in Moscow after having been temporarily recalled are about to re-open negotiations. The spokesman stated that Finland was prepared to make a far-reaching settlement with the Soviet, but there was a limit to which she could go. M. MolototF by his speech proclaimed Russia's intention to remain neutral but at the same time claimed for the Soviet a free hand in International affairs. Moral support for Germany was again affirmed but there was no talk of practical help. Commenting on the above in the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Chamberlain said that the Soviet announcement had caused some real disappointment in Berlin where help of a more practical nature was anticipated.