16 APRIL 1948, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK

IT has been clear for some time that the continuous Russian action to impede essential communications between Berlin and Vienna and the West takes its place in a deliberate policy. If any doubt had remained it would have been removed by the almost daily announcements of fresh nuisances during the past week. In Germany the British and American maintenance staffs for telephone and tele- graph communications between Berlin and the Western Zones must now be withdrawn, aid stations for vehicles on the autobahn must be closed and military freight must not be carried on German Reichs- bahn trains westbound from Berlin. In addition, German parcels mail from Berlin to the west is being held up, presumably in accord- ance with the Russian theory that " pillage " is going on. At the same time in Austria the Americans have been asked to close down an air traffic control station in the Russian Zone, and additional evidence of identity is being required of military personnel travelling between Vienna and the British Zone. All these moves, with the exception of the last, which has no formal excuse whatever, can be " justified " 15y reference to the letter of agreements made in 1945, when reasonable co-operation, between the Allies was still taken for granted. It is daily becoming clearer that those agreements were deliberately peppered with clauses which could later acquire nuisance value, and the Western Powers are being left with little alternative but to scrutinise them to discover what new Russian pinpricks may be expected. The history of the inquiry into the Gatow air disaster is quite sufficient to show that reasonable behaviour, or even common decency following the death of innocent people, cannot be expected from the Russian authorities. The accusation that the British Viking transport swooped on the tail of the Russian Yak fighter is fantastic ; the Russian acceptance of the invitation to co-operate in the inquiry contained a plain indication that an objective view of the case would not be taken ; and the subsequent refusal to hear German or American witnesses ended even the pretence that the Russians wish to recog- nise the facts. In these circumstances, all the Western Powers can do is to be thoroughly prepared for further trouble. The move- ments of Mongolian troops and heavy tanks in the Berlin area leave certainly not been dictated by a desire for peace and quiet. The poles of Russian policy in Berlin and Vienna have so far been a desire to irritate and a care to avoid an act of war. Between the two is a perfect field for careful diplomatic action in which the West pos- sesses a number of advantages. It would be a pity to waste them.