MOSCOW'S ATTACK ON BRITAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 70, 14 June 1927, Page 13

MOSCOW'S ATTACK ON BRITAIN

FANTASTIC CHARGES MASSACRE OF INNOCENTS By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright LONDON, Friday. The accusations made by the Soviet Government that the British Mission at Moscow employed some of the victims who have just been executed by order of the Russian State Collegium Department were commented upon today by the ex-British Charge d’Affaires at Moscow, Sir Robert M. Hodgson. “The charges are fantastic and utterly without foundation,” he said. “Equally fantastic are the other allegations which have emanated from Moscow of illicit practices.” Sir Robert remarked that the charges could not be allowed to go unchallenged. He referred to the recent quotation by Mr. Rykoff, President of the Soviet, from the letter from Mr. Preston to Mr. Jerram. In the letter the writer had said he feared the Russians who were making inquiries would be exposed to the risk of being hanged, drawn and quartered for spying. Sir Robert asked: “Were Mr. Prestons apprehensions justified? Mr R-y - kott s statements show that they were because he mentioned the cases of i eshkoft and Filin, who were shot on charges'Of supplying military information to the British missioner, Mr. Char nock. “Peshkoff was never an officer in Kolchak’s army as Mr. Rykoff had declared. He was a naval officer when 1 arrived at Moscow in 1921. Peshkoff, who was an old acquaintance, was placed in communication with me by a woman named Dahl, a secret agent of the police. After that I eshkoft was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company at Moscow. Some time later he was arrested with his wife and others on a charge of organising a counter-revolution in Siberia. “Acting under my instructions Peshkolf applied to Mr. Karakhan, the Russian diplomat, whose investigations showed the charge to be a mare’s nest Peshkoff and others were then liberated, and he was once more employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. “But he was arrested again in 1925 on the old charge, with some friends for whom he had found employment. “It stands to reason that after the Dahl incident Peshkoff was not likely to act as a spy. Jt was also most unlikely that I should have applied to him for information.” • Sir Robert said that the case of Filin was even more fantastic. He was a Red Army officer, whose wife had been a childhood friend of Mrs. Charnock. For this reason, Charnock was very careful to avoid dealings with Filin, especially as his position enabled him to procure information. The charge on which Filin was executed has only now been revealed. Sir Robert referring to those executed says that Charnock did not know Lytcheff or Koropanko. Sir Robert knew Vladimir Evreinoff, employed at the State Bank, Moscow, slightly, but he did not encourage relations as Evreinoff was formerly an Imperial diplomat in Teheran, and therefore might be suspected. Sir Robert added that arrests on so-called confessions must be treated with the gravest distrust, as the secret police habitually endeavour to wring admissions from victims by promising release if they sign dictated statements. Similarly, the police employ most abominable measures to secure agents. For example, Louise Koch, a maidservant at the British Mission, was threatened with life imprisonment unless she informed against Sir Robert Hodgson. She was also threatened with death if she revealed the fact that she had been approached. Accordingly, information supplied by agents recruited in this manner was entirely valueless. The executions are universally regarded as an act of revenge. Many cf the London newspapers use the word “massacre” in describing them. The Riga correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says most of the men who were executed had no connection with political activity. They were merely victims of the Soviet’s political police and were sentenced to death and shot without trial or inquiry. Prince Dolgorukoff was 65 years old. He was well-known in London. Formerly he was rich, but lie was ruined by the revolution. Another victim, Yevreinoff, married an Englishwoman and lived in England after the revolution, but eventually he secLired permission to return to Russia to work for the State Bank. ANTI-BRITISH OUTBURSTS VOIKOFF’S FUNERAL GREAT POMP AND CEREMONY By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright Reed. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Sunday. The “Daily Express” Moscow correspondent reports that violent antiBritish speeches and the most stringent military precautions, were the outstanding features of the funeral of M. Voikoff, which was carried out with greater pomp than any State funeral since that of Dzerjinsky. There was uneasy excitement all day, and military patrols cantered past the Polish Legation incessantly while armed pickets were in all the maiD centres. The military cleared Red Square completely, thrusting the public into side streets. The entire staff of the Polish Legation drove up in three motor-cars bearing enormous wreaths, in notable contrast to the meagre Soviet flowers. Moscow having decided not to send flowers, but to give monev.—A. and N.Z.

RUSSIAN TRADE WITH GERMANY

SOVIET SEEKS CREDITS By Cable. —Press Association—Copyright Reed. 11.5 a.m. BERLIN, Sunday. In view of Russia’s desire for credits enabling the placing of big orders in Germany, in consequence of the British rupture, great importance is attached to M. Tchitcherin’s luncheon at the Soviet Embassy to 15 German financial and industrial magi nates. —A. and N.Z.