A Month's Events Amid the Chaos Produced by Bolshevist Misrule and
German Invasion
The State Department at Washington on May 16, 1918, published the text
of a protest to Germany made by the Russian Government on April 26. The
document opened with the following statement: "The Russian Government
has taken every measure possible strictly to fulfill the Brest- Litovsk
treaty from the Russian side, and in this way to secure for our people
the chief aim of this treaty--a state of peace. But in reality no such
state of peace exists." The message then enumerated the grievances of
the Russians. It pointed out that by advancing upon Kursk and Voronezh
the German and Ukrainian troops infringed the Russo-Ukrainian frontier
line, "which was one-sidedly established by the Ukrainian Rada itself,
and officially made known to us by the German Government." At the
same time, the protest said, Russian military property in Finland was
being seized by the White Guards, operating in agreement with German
detachments and under instruction from the German staff.
The document also called attention to the fact that, although the
Soviet authorities had declared their readiness to open peace
negotiations with the Ukrainian Central Rada, neither the Ukrainian
Government, "which is now directed by Germany," nor the Berlin
Government itself, had given any answer to the Russian offer. "Owing
to such circumstances," the message declared, "the Soviet Government
considers itself compelled to mobilize all necessary forces in order to
secure the freedom and independence of the Russian Republic, which is
now menaced beyond the limits established by the Brest-Litovsk treaty."
The document concluded by reiterating the complete readiness of the
Russian people to fulfill the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk pact, and
by demanding the German Government should formulate the new demands,
"in the name of which it directs Ukrainian, Finnish, and German troops
against the Russian Soviet Government."