12 JANUARY 1918, Page 2

Sir George Buchanan, who has served with conspicuous ability as

our Minister at Petrograd for the past eight years, has left Russia for reasons of health. No man did more than he to promote a better understanding between Russia and Great Britain before and during the war, and his popularity and tact unquestionably helped us to keep on friendly terms with the successive Revolutionary Govern- ments until M. Kerensky fell before the forces of Anarchy. It is understood that Sir George Buohanan's successor will not be appointed for the present. Presumably we shall wait until there is a stable Government in Russia, to which a British Ambassador can present his credentials. The confusion in that unhappy country becomes daily worse confounded. Seven million soldiers with rifles, who might have fought the enemy, are now freed from the bonds of discipline, and are roaming the countryside in disorderly bands to the terror of their countrymen.