Lieut.-Colonel J. WARDasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information as to the cause and circumstances of the surrender by the Allies of Admiral Koltchak to the Red Commander at Irkutsk; whether the British mission in Siberia was consulted in the matter; and, if not, who was responsible for this surrender?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODCommunications with Siberia during the last two months have been necessarily defective, and I am not sufficiently in possession of the facts to make a reliable statement. I understand, however, from the Acting British High Commissioner in Siberia that a full report of all the circumstances has been sent to the French Government, and I have asked to be supplied with the substance of that report. My present information is that Admiral Koltchak, who was travelling accompanied by a Czech escort, arrived at Irkutsk on January 15th, where his train was immediately surrounded by Revolutionary troops, to whom he was surrendered by the Czechs. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative, and I cannot answer the third part until I receive the report referred to above.