RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 November 1916, Page 5

RUSSIA.

| A POLITICAL PLOT. i i : TO BRING ABOUT PEACE WITn THE EXEMi. A STARTLING EXPOSURE. ' Received Nov. 21, 10.30 p.m. London, Nov. 2!. Tlie Daily Chronicle's correspondent states that the Russian political crisis is explained by a speech delivered by -U. Milinkoff, lender of the Constitutional Democratic Party, which has been suppressed, but which was mimeographed, and,copies are now circulating in Petrograd and Moscow, j The speech .revoalerl a : plot on the , part of the pro-German members of tin ■ Ccurt to foster the idea of n separate •pence with Germany wherein many I Ministers were implicated. | The effect of the speech in the Duma j was extraordinary. The Ministers conI eerned did not dare to face Milinkoff's ; attack, only the War and Naval Ministers remaining in the Duma Hall. M. Milinkoff stated that M. l'etropopcli'. the new Minister for the Interior, and leader of the pro-German party, was aiming at a Russo-German peace, defending the interests of the banks which were closely connected with the Deutsche Bank. M. Petropopoff represents the Russian Bui eaueracy, which fears the crushing of Prussia, meaning the end of Bureaucratic power. The Bureaucrats are chiefly recruited from the Baltic provinces, and are more allied to Prussia than to Russia. The War and Naval Ministers have now openly dissociated themselves from their colleagues, and yroved themselves ready to co-operate m bloc to prevent) n patchcd-up peace. The War Minister indicated that Generals AlexeiclT, Russky, and BrusilotV held the same view, showing that four million bayonets are now behind the progressive bloc of the Duma. The bloc has another .strong weapon in the food problem, which demands immediate settlement. Further political problems are awaited with anxiety. It is possible M. Milinkoff will be prosecuted.