The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-27
KERENSKY STILL
HAS ENVOY
IN PARIS
MaMakoff, Unlike Bakhmeteff,
Never Had Chance to
Present Credentials.
BY HARRY r. FLORY,
, International News Service.

International News Service.
PARIS, Feb. 27.-An embassy
that is not an embassy and an am
bassador who is not an ambassador
That's the situation in a mammoth
house at 70 Rue de Grenelle here,
embassy of the provisional Russian
government of Kerensky, non ex-
istent for the last five years. There
presides M. Maklakoff, the unfortu-
nate.
1t was in October, 1917, that
Maklakoff left Petrograd, a trusted
Kerensky lieutenant, carrying Gre.
dentials as ambassador Of the Rus
sian government to France. The
trip through war-ravaged regions re.
quired two weeks. He arrived on
November Z, one day after the fall
Of the Kerensky government.
Credentials Useless.
Under the odd circumstance of
no longer having any government
20 represent, Maklakoff took over
the embassy. He never was able
to present his credentials to the
French government, for they were
obsolete. And for more than five
years he has held forth in the en-
bassy that is really no longer IN
embassy, doing what he can in a
private way for Russian exilcs
who sought refuge in France when
the Bolshevih gained the upper
hand in their own country.
Precisely at 3 o'clock every
afternoon the ponderous street gates
of the old house are thrown open.
At odd intervals during the rest OF
the daylight hours all sorts Of per.
sons wend their way across the
graveled court to the main doors.
There are no diplomats and no
government officials among them.
however. They are mostly Rus
sian exiles seeking help and in
formation.
Inside the embassy" there ap-
pear to be only three persons-the
doorman, who is almost too eager to
be agreeable and whose heavy shoes
squeak loudly as he conducts the
visitor to the ambassador" through
narrow halls and up narrow, winding
stairwa IS; a pretty Russian girl Sec
rotary, who exercises jurisdiction in
room just outside the "ambassa-
DORIS private office, and the "am-
bassador'' himself
The Ambassadors" position is not
agreeable, and he admits it.
IT have no government to repre-
sent, and there is no government to
pay me-" he says. I'VE do the best
we can on private contributions"
Maklakoff contrasted his situation
here with that of Boris Bakhmeteff,
former ambassador of the provisional
Russian government to the United
States.
Bakhmeteff Fared Better.
'Bakhmeteff presented his creden-
tails and was a regular ambassa-
DOR" Maklaoff said. "And he last
ed almost five years longer than
his government. / have done bet
ter, but how much longer i shall
be in this position I don't know.
All my relations with the French
government are personal and private
any interference"
In a far corner Of the embassy"
the Russian consul general, also
representing the defunct Kerensky
government, has his office. Daily
he is visited by scores of persons
wanting help, chiefly in obtaining
passports.
The consul general cannot issue
O passport, neither can be wise a
passport, but he can certify to the
French government that the applt-
cant for a passport Is the person
he represents himself to be. The
French government, under a League
of Nations ruling, can grant to the
Russian a passport to traverse. any
European country with the excep-
ton of Russia, Poland, and Ger
many.
Thus do the Russian exiles Car
~ on" in Paris. still nursing the
faint hope that the revolutionists,
as they call themselves, may some
time in the future again be in power
In Petrograd.