STATEMENT BY TROTSKY ON INTERVENTION 23 August 1918 Russian-American Relations, p. 249 [1]     When in April the Japanese landing was being prepared in Vladivostok, the general staff in Tokyo sent by Allied cables a statement that the Siberian railroad was threatened by the German and AustroHungarian war prisoners. I then sent to the Siberian line from Moscow, American and British officers who were obliged to confirm officially that all rumors with regard to the threatening of the Siberian railroad by war prisoners were nothing but silly inventions.     This fact is well known to the former Ambassador, Francis, and the former chief of the American Red Cross in Russia, Colonel Robins.     Now when the intervention by the Allies has become an established fact, the American Government picks up the Japanese lie and attempts to hand it to the world in a warmed-up condition.     According to the American statement, the intervention of the Allies is for the purpose of assisting the Czechoslovaks against the German and Austro-Hungarian war prisoners who are attacking them. The participation of these prisoners in the struggle against the Czechoslovaks is the most monstrous invention, as is the Japanese statement about the threat to the Siberian road from the Germans.     It is true that among the Soviet troops there are a certain number of former war prisoners, revolutionary socialists, who became Russian citizens, who are ready to fight against any kind of imperialism, no matter on what side it is. It must be said, however, that the internationalist soldiers of the Soviet army do not constitute more than 1/25 of the entire number of Soviet troops. [1] This was translated from Izvestia, 23 Aug. 1918, which has not been available to the present editor. Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy [Subject] [Author] [Date]