RUSSIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1918, Page 5

RUSSIA.

PITCHED BATTLE AT ODESSA. BETWEEN" MAXIMALISTS AND UKRAINIANS. Router Service. Received .Tan. 18, 5.5 p.m. London, Jan. 17. Petrograd telegrams report that the newspapers* publjsli accounts of u pitched battle fought in the streets of Odessa between Ukrainian troops and Maximalist soldiers and sailors. The Ukrainians held the theatre and the Rada building and posted machine-guns in the streets. The chief of the Red Guards was mortally wounded. Ships in the roadstead opened fire on the town. differ, and it ia uncertain whether the Maximalists have taken the arsenal,

ESCAPE OF EX-CZAR. AX UNCONFIRMED REPORT. Petrograd, .Tan. 17. , There is no confirmation of the frequently repeated rumor that the exO.ar and- his family have escaped, but the Administration is inquiringTHE UKRAINE RADA. IGNORES THE BOLSHEVIKS. Reutfr Service. Received .lan. IS. 8.45 p.m. Petrograd. Jan. 17.. The Bolshevik Commissioners have resolved to break off negotiations with the Ukraine Rada. owing to the Rada's failure to rpply to the question as to whether it would cease to support the Kaledinites. Tito Commissioners declare (.hat the Rada is solely responsible for tile continuance of civil war.

ROUMANIAN ATTITUDE. Nisi TIME FOR THE BOLSHEVIKS. Received Jan. 18, 8.40 p.m. Petrograd, Jan. 17. M. Diamandi, the Roumanian Minister, was attending a New Year's dinner when the police arrived. Diamandi was immediately taken to the fortress prison of St. Peter and St. Paul, but no charge war formulated. The real reason is that the Roumanians have thrown in their tot with the southern union. Diamandi was well-known for his Socialist sympathies. The secretary of the Roumanian legation at Berlin has been forced to resign owing to pressure of the German Government. THREAT TO ARREST KING OF ROUMANIA. Washington, Jan. 17. The Bolsheviks are threatening to arrest the Roumanian King. An orde* has, already been signed.

"BOLSHEVIKS THE SAVIOURS OF RUSSIA." TROTSKY AND LENIN CONTRIBUTE TO DEATH OF KAISERISM. Reuter's Telegrams. London, Jan. 4. The Daily Chronicle publishes „ iong interview with Litvinoff (who was appointed by Trotsky provisional plenipotentiary in London). It picture* him in the most eulogistic terms, emphasising his keen intelligence, force of will, and mastery of English. Litvinoff eloquently defended the Bolsheviks, who, he said, were not usurpers, but the saviours of the revolution. The responsibility for the internecint bloodshed fell on. the irreconcilable social revolutionaries with iCorniloli and Kuit> din. It was giossly mischievous, to re- 1 piesent the Bolsheviks as pro-Geriftan or anti-Ally, or mere pacifists. They realised that Kaiserism and Junkerdom were the greatest obstacles to the emancipation of the international proletariat, but .were opposed to replacing Prussian militarism by Russian, French, or British militarism. Litvinoff rose to his feet, and with a Voice ringing with the conviction of religious fervour said that he was sanguine enough to imagine that the Russian and German armies on the Eastern front »>ihv some day march together against the common foes of the world's proletariat in Germany, and perhaps other countries. He helievod, in fact, that by the negotiations and propaganda r;ow proceeding Trotsky and Lenin were coo ributiug in the morn effective way to the downfall of Kaiserism than the Atlies were by their fighting in the West. rT e concluded by stating that the Bolsheviks regard a. desperate peace as disaster, but it might be inevitable. It was for the Allied democracies to prevent it by rawing their voices immediately. The Council of the Commissioners of the People has fixed January 18th as the date for the opening of the Constituent Assembly, provided that the necessary quorum ol 400 is present. The Bolsheviw announce that among the papers discovered at the Foreign Ministry are interesting documents dealing with pourparlers between the German and the Russia?, imperial Governments on the subject of an international convention for lighting Socialism. Other curious documents have lately heen unearthed dealing with the time immediately preceding the war, and relating to the German policy. The contents will be published when Ihe documents are classified.