Rome, Jan. 7.
Italy will take no initiative to form or enter any Balkan bloc, says Signor Verginio Gayda, who is believed io be Signor Mussolini's mouthpiece, writing in his newspaper, the "Giornale d'Italia."
Regarding the talks in Venice between the Foreign Minister, Count Ciano and the Hungarian Foreizn Minister, Count Stephen Csaky, Signor Gayda says Italy wants to live in peaceful collaboration with Danubian and Balkan States, but wants also to preserve her freedom. A Balkan bloc conditions, he continues, would be premature. He declares that Italy has no aggressive intentions towards the U.S.S.R. She simply wishes to check the expansion of Communism.
"Russia may stay unmolested within the confines of her frontiers, but if Communism attempts to encroach on European and Italian zones of vital interests, Fascists will be ready with the right answer," Signor Gayda adds.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.