SOVIET COUP?

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20920, 27 September 1939, Page 7

SOVIET COUP?

FEARS IN RUMANIA TROOPS ON BORDER ANXIETY IN BALKANS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 26 The entire frontier between Rumania and Russia has been closed as a precautionary measure. Fears of a Soviet coup in Rumania are expressed in responsible circles in Bucharest, following unconfirmed reports that numerous Russian divisions are advancing to the Bessarabian border, says the correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company. Air raid precautions were enforced in Bucharest last night. According to the Angora correspondent of the New York Times, Soviet concentrations on the Rumanian frontier are causing anxiety in the Balkans. It is hoped that the visit to Moscow of the Turkish Foreign Minister, Sukru Saracoglu Bey, will clarify the Soviet attitude to the Balkans.

Diplomatic circles in Belgrade are convinced that a rapprochement between Russia and Yugoslavia is imminent, says the Belgrade correspondent of the New York Times.

In spite of a strong pro-Russian sentiment, the Serbian peasants have had no contact diplomatically since the revolution. It is persistently ru-

There will not be many who will be able to recognise in these bearded soldiers from the days of the Great War—the late ]Vlarshal Pilsudski (centre), Marshal Smigly-Rydz (right) and M. Kasprzycki, the present Minister of War in Poland. The picture was taken in 1915.

moured that a Yugoslav delegation is going to Moscow, but this has not been confirmed. The correspondent says the public is most sympathetic to a Russian incursion in Europe.

Fears in Estonia

Russian troops have arrived along the border of Russia and Estonia, according to despatches from Tallinn. The President of Estonia, M. Konstantin Pats, is summoning Parliament. The assembly is being preceded by a secret meeting of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.

Reports from Moscow state that complete secrecy surrounds the cessation of conversations between M. Karl Selter, Estonian Foreign Minister, and high Soviet authorities. Diplomatic circles believe that Russia might be making demands. Thereis no indication whether the talks have been only suspended or broken off.

M. Selter was summoned from the ballet to the Kremlin at midnight. At the Kremlin he saw a personage. He returned to his hotel and packed and left by aeroplane in the morning.

To the Bitter End

General Laidoner, a former delegate to the League of Nations, in a speech, reasserted that Estonia would defend itself to the bitter end if attacked. The Berlin official radio states that plans for the evacuation of civilians from Helsingfors, the capital of Finland, have been prepared.