[Enclosure—Translation]82a
Statement by the Russian Political
Conference
Referring to the project of Dr. Nansen concerning the food supply of the
famine-stricken regions of Russia, the undersigned, in the name of
the Russian Political Conference, believe it to be their duty to
make the following statement:
The desire of the Allies to aid the Russian people, dying of famine
and disease as a result of the Bolshevist régime, can be received
only with profound gratitude. It constitutes not only an act of
humanity, but gives expression to that solidarity of nations without
which humanity could not bear the consequences of this war.
The undersigned believe, however, that this generous idea will end in
a quite opposite result unless efficient precautions are taken to
prevent the food supply of Russia from falling into the hands of the
Bolshevist authorities; if it does, this act of humanity to the
Russian nation will serve only to favor those who are profiting by
the Bolshevist régime and to prolong their domination.
The task of the national Russian movement is to save Russia from
those who have reduced her to the present state of impotence and to
the necessity of seeking her food from abroad. The feeding of the
starving population is not a solution of the Russian question.
Consequently, the struggle for the liberation of Russia from her
oppressors, with the object of making her capable of existing by her
own means and of governing herself according to her own will, must
not for any reason be halted.
As to the means of paying for the food, the undersigned declare that
Russia will pay her debts and repay the services which have been
rendered her under this head, but she hopes that the Allies no more
than she herself will recognize that the Bolshevist usurpers have
the right to dispose of the national patrimony under any pretext
whatever.
- Prince Lvoff
- Sazonov
- N. W.
Tchaykovsky
- N.
Maklakoff
Paris
, May 4, 1919.
