British Labour MP and Soviet minister discuss prisoner exchange in Copenhagen

Copenhagen, 3 December 1919 - A conference is taking place in Copenhagen between British Labour MP, James O’Grady, and Soviet Government Minister, Maxim Litvinov, to discuss a possible exchange of prisoners of war.

The meeting of the two men has not been without controversy. Concerns have been expressed that the Bolsheviks would use the occasion to raise other issues, but the British government has made it clear that the negotiations are in no way to go beyond the prisoner question.

The choice of O’Grady as the British representative was also questioned. The Morning Post has pointed out that, while he is not known to have any sympathy for the Bolshevists, O’Grady is a member of a party which is friendly to them.

The Russian position

Mr Litvinov has said that he had two primary reasons for travelling to Copenhagen:

1) to alleviate the sufferings of Russian prisoners of war and civilians in foreign countries

2) to alleviate the sufferings of other nationalities in Russia, who are now cut off from their homes and family by the blockade imposed by the Allies on Soviet Russia.

Mr Litvinoff added that while he hoped some good would come from the Copenhagen negotiations, he felt bound to state that ‘no satisfactory solution can be found to this problem, affecting as it does the destinies of hundreds of thousands of people, until the real cause of their suffering – namely, the military operations on Russian territory and the isolation of Soviet Russia – is totally removed.’

Following information shared at the initial Copenhagen meetings, it is now understood that there are 110 British prisoners in Russia and not 101 as previously believed. Furthermore, there are about 1,000 British Nationals in Russia, mostly based in Moscow and Petrograd. Mr O’Grady was unable to confirm at this stage whether the Soviet Government was open to the idea of repatriation, despite indications made by Mr Litvinov to the press that he was in favour of it.

The Press Association understands that intelligence received from Russia indicates that British war prisoners held there are in good condition, with the exception of one or two who require surgical attention.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]