Anglo-Russian

The Anglo -Russian Conference* which has been carried on behind the secretive walls of the British Foreign Office was said to be "on the eve of collapse."

British claims were said to approximate $5,000,000,000. To offset this, the Soviet Charge d'Affaires, M. Christian Georgyevitch Rakovsky, was reputed to have filed a claim for $20,000,000,000.

The British claim is made up principally of a $4,322,000,000 pre-War debt. The interest on this sum alone would probably be more than Soviet Russia could pay.

The Russian claim is based upon the damage wrought by British support of Koltchak, Yudenitch and Denikin in their campaigns against Sovietland.

The most important point to settle, however, is that of granting credit to Russia, for it is clear that the Soviet Government will not be able to pay anything, if payment is required, for some years. British bankers and business men, in memoranda and letters to Premier MacDonald, have said that no money could be sent to Russia unless private debts (amounting to nearly $2,000,000,000) and property are fully recognized, and a permanent civil code drawn up and the courts made independent of the Government.

Another minor point in the deliberations hinges on the question of Chesham House, Tsarist London Embassy. At present M. Sabline, member of the Embassy staff before Bolshevik days, occupies the house and, "recognizing that he is not in Moscow," refuses to budge. M. Rakovsky claimed the Embassy for Sovietland and thus evinces a desire to establish the Soviet regime as lawful heir to that of the Tsars. The British Government favors M. Rakovsky's contention, but the whole matter was exciting a good 'deal of comment and was further complicated by obscure legal points.

M. Christian G. Rakovsky, head of the Russian delegation to the conference and Russian Charge d'Affaires in London, is a handsome, clean-shaven Bolshevik.

He was born in Bulgaria in 1873 and--like all the present Russian rulers--has led a hectic revolutionary life, first getting into trouble in Bulgaria, then in Switzerland, Germany, Rumania, etc.

Well-educated, he has attended at various times the universities of Switzerland, Germany, France. He has written several historical books, all deeply impregnated with Marxism.

Since the 'downfall of the Kerensky Government in 1917, M. Rakovsky has played an important role in Bolshevik affairs. He has been on several im portant diplomatic missions and since 1919, with one break, he has been chair man of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars.

*The conference was called by Premier MacDonald after de jure recognition had been granted to Russia (TiME, April 28).