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Show SOVIET TAKES KEY ROLE IN NEGOTIATIONS By UNITED PRESS j Soviet Russia assumed the key role in the European alignment picture today. Great Britain, seeking to draw Russia into a security agreement which would entail armed resistance to aggression aggres-sion by Germany, assured Russia that she would be expected to assist victims of aggression in Eastern Europe only after Britain and France, coming to the aid of those victims, were actually engaged en-gaged in war. Premier Makes Statement The statement was made by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain Chamber-lain in the house of commons However, both Chamberlain and R. A. Butler, foreign undersecretary, undersecre-tary, told questioners that the government, still is opposed to a military alliance of Britain, France and Russia. Chamberlain's statement corrected cor-rected a Soviet impression that aid by Russia was to be one-sided. The importance of the Russian position was illustrated by the report re-port in Paris that the Pope's failure fail-ure to include the Soviet in his mediation proposals was a marked factor in the coldness shown by Britain and France to the Pope's suggestion. Russia gained two diplomatic victories in an indication by Rumania Ru-mania that it is ready to accept a Russian security guarantee, and a report that Poland is willing to accept ac-cept Russian material aid, under certain conditions to be specified, in event of war. It tended to remove re-move one of the British objections to a three-power military agreement, agree-ment, Britain having insisted that neither Poland nor Rumania is willing to associate itself with Hussia. |