Russia. No. 1 (1919). - 19. Sir M. Findlay to Mr. Balfour.


No. 19.


Major N. E. Reilly, I.A., Assistant Political Agent, Chitral, to the Honourable the Chief Commissioner, North-Western Frontier Province.


(Extract.) Chitral, January 7, 1919.

I HAVE the honour to report that a party of Russian refugees has arrived at Mastuj.

I understand that they have sought British protection as, expecting the arrival of a Bolshevik commissioner at Kharog, they considered their lives to be in danger.

The Bolsheviks are stated to have bayonetted the brother and nephew of Captain Chkapsky, whilst I also understood from Captain Besobrazor that all his family had been murdered by Bolsheviks at Tashkent.

They state that the Bolsheviks are destroying everything, and that at Tashkent the daily allowance had been reduced to ¼ lb. (Russian) of bread per head.