The new proposals from Moscow for settling the Russian debt
to France have caused a good deal of bewilderment, as in the true Muscovite fashion they have been mixed up with the discussions about Franco- Russian relations in general and with the controversy about Rakovsky's diplomatic indiscretions. The Times correspondent says that the proposals are theoretically an improvement on previous proposals. The annuity of £2,400,000 is to be paid in full from the first year instead of rising gradually from smaller payments, and the credit asked for is £24,000,000 instead of £44,000,000, no part of which is to be delivered in cash. In the first six years of the arrangement France would be supplying goods on credit to the value of £4,000,000, and would be receiving only £2,400,000 in cash plus the interest on the commercial credit. Perhaps those critics are not far wrong who sardonically describe the scheme as a method of increasing Russian indebtedness to France.
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