Explanation of the Surrender By David Fraser.
Harbin, Jan. 31.
The bu: ning question of the hoar among Russians in the Far East is that of the surrender of Koltchak to the Social Revolutionaries Irkutsk. "He has _in effect been handed over to the Bolsheviks, and the latest from Irkutsk is that he will be sent to Moscow for trial. It is something to know, from the Allied point of view, that he has not been summarily dealt with, and that if he is to go to Moscow there will be time and opportunity to Jo something on his behalf. Koltchak asked the Allied Diplomatic Missions for protection, and in requesting the Czechs to guard him they did the best in their power, as they were bound to for a man whom they had supported throughout and who may said to have been in a special degree under their win: Czechs accepted the responsi through their official representatives, the note relating to the matter wsing the expression within the limit of possibility."
But the Czechs have delivered him over to his enemies, and in consequence the good intentions /of the Allies have been frustrated. The Czechs have been accused of bad faith. VW the evidence at our disposal it is not possible to form a definite opinion on the point, but it is the fact that General Janin, the French officer in command of the Czechs, who was a party to the arrangement under which the Czechs accepted responsibility for Koltchak, definite. ly authorized his surrender. General Janin has explained that there was a concentration of troops against the Czechs at Irkutsk and that they were winable to resist the demand to surrender. The presumption. therefore. is that they did their best to fulfil their obligation, but were compelled by force majeure.
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Russians—and others—refuse to believe that the Czechs were coereed, but declare that they deliberately handed over Koltchak to certain death in order to satisfy their own personal grudges against him.
Czechs on their part warmly denounce the Koltchak government in general, and Koltchak—himself in particular, and assert that they were perfectly ready to surrender him, with or without the authority of Janin, rather than lose a single life in protecting him. They are emphatic in stating that the whole of their echelons west of Irkutsk. aggregating some 12,000 men at the time of writing, are actually in danger of being annihilated, between the Bolsheviks with whom their rear is constantly engaged. and the Bolsheviks between them and safety, and that any endeavour by them to save Koltchak would
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.