RUSSIAN CRISIS.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 January 1918, Page 5

RUSSIAN CRISIS.

IRKUTSK AFLAME. FIERCE FIGHTING REPORTED. FRENCH CONSUL MURDERED. TOKYO, Jan 1. Despatches ex Harbin report fierce fighting at Irkutsk between Bolsheviks, Regulars, Cadets,, and Cossacks. Bolsheviks murdered a a French Consular Agent and two other Frenchiinen. Irkutsk is aflame. Maximalists are being reinforced from Karshojursk. ARMY OFFICERS JOIN KALEDIN. ' FIERCE FIGHTING AT IRKUTSK. \ I - : Received 12.45. PETROGRAD, Jan 2. Twenty thousand officers have joined Kaledin, finding life in the recog--1 nised army unsupportable. Kaledin has organised a special corps of officers. The Cossacks have surprised and disarmed the Bolshevik garrisons at Alexandrova, Ormhurg and Kazatin. Violent fighting continues at Irkutsk, and whole portions of the town have been destroyed. Many civilians are dying of cold. AN UNHAPPY STATE OF AFFAIRS TROTSKY THREATENS ROUMANIA. Received 12.45 PETROGRAD, Jan 2. The situation on the Roumanian | front is tragic. Relations between the Bolsheviks and Roumanian officers are strained. Roumanians occupied the Bessarabian town of Locou and several villages, and arrested and shot several Bolshevik leaders.

Trotsky lias addressed a note to the Roumanian Ambassador, setting forth the Soviet’s demands and threatening harsh measures against Roumanians aiding Kaledin. The Ambassador replied that the Russian divisions are now without organisation. Men leave the front with-' out authority and plunder Roumanian villages, which are suffering enormously through their excess.