THE RUSSIAN PROBLEM.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16260, 10 July 1918, Page 7

THE RUSSIAN PROBLEM.

GREAT CRISIS

APPROACHING.

SENSATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

EXPECTED

{By Cabin. —Press Association.—Copyrigkt) (Australian and N.S4. Cable LONDON, July 8.

"Washington newspapers give prominence to reports of a sensational series of events in Russia. It is believed that a great crisis is rapidly approaching. i'otrograd reports indicate that the Ukraine revolt is growing. The bourgeoisie are alarmed because the Germans are withdtawing and refusing to give battle. Only 30.000 troops are available in tho Kieff region, and they are urgentlv demanding reinforcements. It is stated that the total number ot' peasant troops is 200,000, of which fo,ooo are well equipped and efficiently officered. Thoy aro advancing from the Fastor railway junction to Kieff, forty miles to the north-east. Communications between Kieff and Odessa are cut. Tho Ukrainian Government has ordered the restitution of lands to thoir former owners, promising a complete scheme of agrarian reforms. _ NEW YORK July 8. It is authoritatively stated that tho United States will send to Russia an Economic Mission, supported by a police force of intor-Allied troops to establish order. COUNT MIRBACH'S ASSASSINATION.

MOSCOW, July 8. Two unknown men requested an interview with Count Mirbach on thopretext of presenting a petition. They entered the Ambassador's room where Reigzer, Secretary to the Legation, and a German officer were in attendance.

One of the strangers fired two revolver shots, hitting Count Mirbach in tho head. The other throw three bombs, inflicting fatal injuries. Tho murderers escaped through a window.

Reigzer and the officer were uninjured.

The murder caused a tremendous sensation in political and military circles, and grave developments are expected. Volodarsky, the Bolshevik Government's Press commissioner, was killed by a revolver shot in Moscow. The murderer escaped. LONDON, July 8. A Russian -wireless message says that M. Lenin, in informing the Bolshevik Ambassador, Joffe, at Berlin, of tho murder of Mirbach, ordered him to immediately visit Herr von Kuhlxnann and express indignation. Lenin, Sverlofer, Tchitcherin, and Karahan, on receipt of the news, immediately assured tho chief of the German Mission that extraordinary measures would bo taken for the discovery of tho murderers.

The whole quarter in which the Embassy is situated was immediately surrounded by troops, and severe control was established over arrivals and departures. An extraordinary plenipotentiary will be despatched to Berlin to express indignation.

(neuter's Telegrams.)

PARIS, July 8. A German expedition to Mosoow is anticipated as a result of Count Mirbach's murder. *

M. Kerensky, referring to the assassination of Count Mirbach, while he deplored the taking of human life, 6aid ho was glad that Mirbach had been killed. His death would prove a good thing for Russia. It might mark the beginning of the Renaissance, and might initiate a movement in Mosoow against Germany. The Germans were now certain to oocupy Moscow. Qount Mirbach was'the real ruler of Russia, and was the friend of M. Lenin and M. Trotzky.

(Received July 9th, 11.40 p.m.)

AMSTERDAM, July 8

A Berlin telegram states that enquiries suggest that £he Entente Is /implicated in the Mirbach affair.

(Received July 9th, 11.40 p.m.) COPENHAGEN, July 8

A semi-official message issued by the Wolff Press Bureau fastens the responsibility on the Social Revolutionaries, who are engaged in severe fighting with the Bolsheviks, resulting in the latter's favour.

(Received July 9th, 11.40 p.m.)

PARIS, July 8. The Press agrees that Germany will attempt to profit by the Mirbach affair and speculates whether it was deliberately arranged, similar to the Sarajevo assassination, in order to afford a pretext for more drastio military action.

lhe newspapers urge the necessity of Allied intervention to save Russia.

(Australian and N.Z. Cabl« Association.) (Received July 10th, 12.50 a.m.)

COPENHAGEN, July 8.

The murder of Count Mirbach has caused the greatest excitement in Germany. The Kaiser immediately ordered Herr von Kuhlmann to break off negotiations with tho Russian delegates.

The Berlin police are specially guarding the Russian Ambassador's house in Berlin, fearing that the mob will attack it, as Count Mirbach was knowr as the Kaiser's special friend.

MURDER OF ROMANOFFS

CONFIRMED,

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Associatlor.) (Received July 9th, 11.45 p.m.)

COPENHAGEN, July 8. The latest Russian newspapers and special information received by the "Politiken" (Copenhagen) confirm the murders of tho Czar, the Czarina, and Princess Tatiana. The Bolsheviks continue to deny the murders.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.)

LONDON, July 8. The Tokio correspondent or the "Daily Express" . reports that dospite the ofaborate measures of tho Vladivostok Soviets to resist the Czechoslovaks, tho latter, under the young Russian Genera.l Diteric, formerly Dukhovitch's Chief of Staff, easily dispossessed the Bolsheviks of their arms and ammunition.

Tho Czecho-Slovaks in the Far East are cut off from their comrades in Western Siberia, but developments suggest that they will soon jointly control tho trans-Siberian railway. The Czecho-Slovak movement is entirely spontaneous, and may prove a rallying-point for the Siberian party of order, and may lead to a natural and satisfactory solution of the problem. MOSCOW, July 8. The counter revolution has been suppressed, hundreds being arrested. VLADIVOSTOK, July 8. Brit'sh, Japanese, and American landing parties have enforced neutrality in the neighbourhood of the Consulates. AMSTERDAM, July 8. Turkish newspapers demand that tho Russian Black Soa fleet should .be handed over to Turkey. COPENHAGEN, July 8. The "TiHens Tegn" states that tho whole of the Murman population have broken off from Russia and joined tho Entente. Provisions have arrived in Murman from Amorica.

("The Times.") PEKING, July 8. Russian Consuls in Chinese Turkestan describe the wanton savagery and ruthless 1 grood of armed 'Bolsheviks, who aro overrunning Central Asia. They sent an expedition to Bokhara, ostensibly to.enforce reforms, but seized!

£•4.000,000 from tho State Bank, looted Bud destroyed tho town, shot peasants working in tho fields, and violated •women. Later they invaded Semirechia, where it is reported thev murdered a thousand Chinese. Sonic Cossacks who are assembled in Northern iSemirecliia are resisting and appealing to the Allies for assistance.

/ (Reuter'a Telegrams.) (Received July 9th, 7.15 p.m.)

MOSCOW, July 8

A Revolutionary Military Council has lx?en appointed to direct all operations against the Czecho-Slovaks. Colonel Muravieff, a former Commander-in-Chief, has assumed command of the Soviet troops.

A split has occurred in the Soviet camp, and the moderate Social Revolutionaries and the Minimalist Socialists have been excluded from tho Soviet Central Executive.

(Heuter's Telegrams.) (Received July 9th, 11.40 p.m.)

LONDON, July 8

Significant reports are appearing in the German Press of tho Bolsheviks' activities in Baku, and allege that they necessitate the German occupation of this rich district. Admiralty per Wirelees Pre«s. (Received July 10th, 12.30 a.m.) A Russian official report states:— "Tho countcr-rovolutionary rising of the Loft Soviet revolutionaries at Moscow has been suppressed, several hundreds being arrested."