Government quarters said, however, that Britain was reluctant to grant such a guarantee. And they voiced fears that the whole situation would be further embiterred should Finland disregard Soviet objections and go ahead with her plans to remilitarize the Aaland Isles, Such action, they declared, would trove most detrimental to the tripartite negotiations carried on at present, especially in regard to guarantees for the Baltic States.
Experts were studying this latter problem today, Havas learned, and were considering possibilities of satisfying Soviet claims for auto-marie assistance should the Baltic nations be attacked.
At the same time, they wished to avoid forcing these guarantees on the northern countries against their will. And they also wished to avoid ving the USSR. power to intervene in these states, unrequested, in the defence of its own interests, Britain would shortly approach Latvia and Esthonia to inquire what sort of guarantees they would be ready to accept, it was said, Latvian and Esthonian quarters thereupon declared their respective Governments would most probably agree to guarantees of their neutrality being included in the eventual three<Power pact.
British quarters said they hoped such guarantees would satisfy both their own and the Soviet viewpoint. But they nevertheless expressed the fear that the Aaland problem might hamper negotiations, It would be to save time and spare much trouble that Britain would send a representative such as Mr, Strang to Moscow, they concluded.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.