RUSSIA REJECTS ANGLO-FRENCH PROPOSALS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1939, Page 7

RUSSIA REJECTS ANGLO-FRENCH PROPOSALS

M. Molotov Says They Are Insufficient and Ineffective CHANGES IN WORLD SITUATION UNDER-ESTIMATED POINTS INSISTED ON BY SOVIET UNION By Telegraph.—Press Association.- -Copyright. (Received This Day, 9.40 a.m.) MOSCOW, May 31. The Commissar for Foreign Affairs, M. V. M. Molotov, addressing the Soviet Parhament, announced the rejection of the latest Anglo-French offer. M. Molotov sceptically and caustically described the Anglo-French efforts to build up a peace front as insufficient and ineffective. He said: -“It is impossible to think now whether they reallv want to end aggression. That is why we must be vigilant. We want peace, but must remember M. Stalin s warning about pulling the chestnuts from the fire. u While rejecting the latest Anglo-French offer, as not going far enough, especially where the Baltic States are concerned, M. Molotov intimated that trade negotiations with Germany may soon be resumed. He said the latest Anglo-French proposals admit the principle of reciprocity. “That is a step forward,’’ said M. Molotov, “but it has several qualifications, possibly making it ineffective. The democratic countries have previously underestimated the changes in the world situation and, while abandoning collective security, have tried a policy of appeasement. The Soviet opposes both these views and although the Soviet never feels any sympathy for aggression it does not approve of the efforts to conceal true facts from the people “Are there (he asked) any signs that the democratic Powers want to make a real effort to check aggression? We stand for peace, but must be careful. We know the difference between words and acts, but that difference must be noticed in England. The Italo-G-erman alliance establishes a principle of absolute reciprocity. There is no reciprocity in several of the early Anglo-French proposals. The Anglo-Turkish Pact has changed the international situation and therefore the Soviet accepted offers of negotiation with Britain. The Soviet Union is not what it was in 1921. We are obliged to remind the world of this fact, but it seems that our neighbours often forget. It is time to understand that we will not tolerate violation of our frontiers. “We must, according to the mutual assistance agreement, help guard Mongolia’s frontiers. We will defend those frontiers as firmly as our own. It is time to understand that all patience has a limit. “The Soviet insisted on three points in the negotiations with Britain:— “(1) The pact must be exclusively of defensive character. “(2) It must guarantee all countries without exception on the Western borders of the Soviet Union. “(3) It must be a concrete agreement for assistance in the event of future attacks.’’ The second condition shows that the Soviet has not moved from the position taken up weeks ago.