Abstract

The Murman Railway Question

With the Russian questions nominally settled by the peace of Brest-Litovak, to reconsideration of which the U.S. is pledged, must henceforth be classed the Murman Railway problem. For the moment this appears to be merely a question of strategy. The Murman Railway is important because it terminates in the only ice-free port left to the Soviet Union after the seizure by Germany of Libau and the minor ports of the southern Baltic. The Black Sea ports, the present ownership of which is doubtful, maybe left out of account. The Murman Railway was built solely as a means of supplying Russia's army with munitions. It had no direct strategical significance. While it was being built the German armies were held on the front of Riga; and there was no probability that an independent Finland would soon be collaborating with Germany in Northwest Soviet Union.