912  FOREIGN RELATIONS) 1950, VOLUME I


tion. In this connection the Soviet Government considers it necessary
to call to memory the outstanding contributions of Russian seamen in
the discovery of Antarctica. It is a generally recognized fact that the
Russian seamen Bellingshausen and Lazarev at the beginning of the
19th century, first reached the coasts of Antarctica, circumnavigated
this continent and thus showed the falsity of the widely held view of
that time that there was no land at the south polar circle. This contri-
bution of Russian seamen is no less important than the later explora-
tions on the continent itself and on -its coasts which were carried out by
expeditions of the several countries whose representatives presently
proclaim their interest in the determination of the regime of the
Antarctic.
  As is well known, the territories of Antarctica and the waters lying
near it represent a great value from the economic point of view, and
on this side of the question the Antarctic continent possesses a signifi-
cance not only for the states enumerated above who are participating
in conversations regarding the regime of the Antarctic, but also for
many other states, among them the Soviet Union. It is enough to point
out that 9,10ths of the world's whale catch comes from these very Ant-
arctic waters. The USSR is a participant of the whaling industry and
of the International Whaling Convention of 1946. Its whaling flotilla
regularly carries on whale fishery in Antarctic waters.
  It is necessary to point out the same thing with regard to the scien-
tific significance of Antarctica, in as much as this continent and the
islands lying near it are a convenient base for highly important
meteorological observations which are also significant for the north-
ern hemisphere.
  The attention of the Soviet public has already been directed to the
indicated circumstances. In particular, they were noted in a resolution
of a general meeting of the Geographic Society of the USSR on Feb-
ruary 10, 1949,2 in which the Society underlined the highly important
significance of the discoveries of Russian seamen in the Antarctic.
  The Soviet Government considers it necessary to state that in ac-
cordance with international practice, all interested countries must be
brought into participation in consideration of the regime of any region

  At its meeting on February 10, 1949. the U.S.S.R. All-Union Geographic
So-
ciety, after hearing a report by Academician Lev Semyonovich Berg (the Presi-
dent of the Society) on the early 19th century Antarctic explorations of
Russian
navigators Captain Faddei Bellinsgauzen (Thaddeus Bellingshausen) and Sea-
man Mikhail Lazarev, adopted a resolution stating that any decision affecting
the Antarctic regime without Soviet participation would lack legal force
and
that the USSR had every justification not to recognize such decisions. For
materials on the American reaction to this resolution, see Foreign Relations,
1949, vol. i, pp. 793 ff. For the summary of the meeting and the text of
the resolu-
tion as printed in the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Izvestiya, see Current
Digest of the Soviet Press, vol. i, No. 6, pp. 43-45.


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