The Bolshevist Government made efforts to come to terms with the
Ukraine, and also with Finland. In the middle of May a Russian
peace delegation arrived in Kiev. Germany appointed Baron Mumm von
Schwarzenstein, Ambassador to the Ukraine, as its representative to
the peace conferences, with almost dictatorial powers, especially in
questions relating to boundaries. The efforts of the Soviet Government
to make peace with the Ukraine remained ineffectual. The delegates were
unable to agree regarding the frontier line. Repatriation of Ukrainians
living in Great Russia was another stumbling block. The removal of
property by repatriated Ukrainians, it was objected, would conflict
with the Soviet regulation allowing only small sums of money to be
exported from Russia. Besides, said the Bolsheviki, this would give
propertied Russians a simple means of escape from the Soviet Republic.
According to a London dispatch, dated June 7, Germany was responsible
for the delay in the negotiations. The German command at Kiev was
reported to have declared Russo-Ukrainian peace inopportune before all
important points in the Ukraine were occupied.
It was reported on June 10 that Germany and Russia had entered into
an agreement under which Finland ceded to Russia the fortresses of
Ino and Raivola, with the understanding that they were not to be
fortified, while Russia surrendered to Finland a part of the Murman
Peninsula, with an outlet to the ocean, thus bringing German influence
to Russia's arctic ports and to the railroads connecting them with the
interior of the country.