Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-19
|bOLSHEVIKI SEhD
 AN ULTIMAIUN U THE hUN4N|ANS
Demand Evacuation of Bes sarabla and Free Passaga
 In Rumania fer Troops.

London, Feb. 1S.-The Russian gov ernment has sent an ultimatium to the Roumanian government demanding the
 evacuation of Bessarabia by the Rou-
 manians and counter-revoutiona
 troops and the right to transport Rus
 sian troops through Roumanian and
 Bessarabian territory.
 The ultimatium, according to the re- port, was due to expire February 16.
 The ultimatium also demands the ex- tradition of Lieutenant General Stch- erbatcheff, commander of the Russian forces Tn Roumania, who recently was
 declared an outlaw by the Bolsheviki
 as an enemy of the Russian people.
 Roumania is ordered to hand over the
 "murdarers of Russian soldiers and
 sailors
 Russian government wireless con- munication received here tonight con- tains the following concerning the ul- timatum:
 'The Roumanian general staff dele
 gates, Colonel Dodalescue and Cap
 tain Cavers, arrived here and proposed
 an armstice, ending at 5 o'clock in the morning of the sixteenth, to consider
 conditions of peace between Roumania
 and Russia. We agreed on the subject
 both sides reserving unrestricted free
 dom for the movements and concentra-
 tion of troops. At the same time we sent out an ultimatum giving the Rou- manlan government until tomorrow morning to accept or refuse.
 Bolseviki Conditions. l "Our conditions are, first the ilnme- ' diate evacuation of Bessarabia bv Rou- manian troops and by national coun- ter-revolutonary troops acting under General Stcherbatcheff; second, the immediate return of all property ta- ken by Roumanian authorities belong ing to Russia on Bessarabian terri tory; third, the passage of Russian troops through Roumanian and Bessarabian territories; fourth, the extradition of Stcherbatcheff, and fifth, the eXtradition of the authors of the murder of Comrade Roschal and other Russian soldiers and sailors. We consider it our revolutionary and socialistic duty to declare that we are fighting against the Rouman- ian government and not the Rouman- Ian workmen, peasants and soldiers, whom we offer to support to depose the Roumanian government of bour- geoise and landlords
 The document is signed by Ravov sky, president, and other members of the High Commission for the strug- gle against the Roumanian and Bes- sarabian counter-revolution."
 Tho fi,.c+ manlans had crossed their border into | Bessarabla was contained in a dis patch from London, January 2, last. quoting telegram from Petrograd, which said the Roumanians had occu- pied Llevo and arrested and shot there several Bolsheviki leaders. Leon Trotzky. the Bolsheviki foreign minis ter, immediately protested to the Rou- manian minister at Petrograd who in his reply accused Russian troops of having plundered Roumanian villages A committee of Bolsheviki visiting Roumania was reported to have been arrested and it was asserted they would have been shot except for in- tervention by the Cossacks.
 In the middle of January the dis putes between the Bolesheviki govern- ment and the Roumanian government not having been settled, the Rouman- ian minister at Petrograd and his en- tire staff were arrested and orders even were issued for the arrest of King Ferdinand of Roumania. Later the Roumanian minister and his en- tourage were released, after represen- tations had been made by the entente diplomats and the American ambassa- dor. Russia few days later sent an ultlmatum to Roumania, demanding the free passage of Russian troops through Roumania into Russia, and i, when the permission was refused the Bolsheviki government announced a break with Roumania, whose legation and consular staff were ordered out of Russia. In addition all Roumanians in Russia were ordered to quit the coun- try.
 On February 6 the dispatches said that Russian troops had endeavored to cross the Russo-Roumanian border but had been defeated in their attempt by Roumanian forces.