Our enemy looks upon Russia as a market for its products.
The end of the war will leave us in a feeble condition, and with our
frontier open the flood of German products can easily hold back for
years our industrial development. Measures must be taken to guard
against this….
“I say openly and frankly: the combination of forces which unites us
to the Allies is _favourable to the interests of Russia…._ It is
therefore important that our views on the questions of war and peace
shall be in accord with the views of the Allies as clearly and
precisely as possible…. To avoid all misunderstanding, I must say
frankly that Russia must present at the Paris Conference _one point
of view…._”
He did not want to comment on the _nakaz_ to Skobeliev, but he
referred to the Manifesto of the Dutch-Scandinavian Committee, just
published in Stockholm. This Manifesto declared for the autonomy of
Lithuania and Livonia; “but that is clearly impossible,” said
Terestchenko, “for Russia must have free ports on the Baltic all the
year round….
“In this question the problems of foreign policy are also closely
related to interior politics, for if there existed a strong sentiment
of unity of all great Russia, one would not witness the repeated
manifestations, everywhere, of a desire of peoples to separate from
the Central Government…. Such separations are contrary to the
interests of Russia, and the Russian delegates cannot raise the
issue….
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