'File 8/15 Arab Series - 1933-1939' [‎114r] (227/434)

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and makes no impression of strength. His relative Huseyn ad-Dabbagh is
probably hotter stuff and I think there is some disappointment that he has not
also returned so far to the Saudi fold.
3. When speaking privately to Faud Bey about the return of Tahir
and connected matters, I took an opportunity of impressing on him the
seriousness of the efforts made by the British authorities concerned in and
after 1932 to curb the activities of persons engaged in anti-Saudi conspira
cies abroad.
4. I am sending copies of this despatch to Bagdad, Aden and Trans-
Jordan.
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( 12 )
{Received on 15th February 1936, with Political Secretary's letter No. 5,
dated 30th January 1936.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter, dated 22nd January 1936.
Note on Monsieur Khakimov's 'previous career in Jedda.
Kerim Khakimov arrived in Jedda on the 6th August 1924. He is a
Tartar from Ufa and a Moslem. He was described by Mr. Consul Bullard
as very young for the post (about 31 or 32) but clever and an enthusiastic
Communist. He spoke Persian very well, besides Russian, Turkish and
Turki and was rapidly learning Arabic and French.
After a period of inaction he seems to have indulged in violent anti-
British propaganda and lost no opportunity of preaching the mission of
the Soviet Union to liberate the East. His activities caused some concern
to the authorities in Egypt and the Sudan and His Majesty’s High Com
missioner in Cairo suggested that it might be advisable to approach Ibn
Sand with a view to the suppression of the Soviet Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . The Acting
British Agent, however, expressed the view that M. Kliakimov’s propa
ganda was ineffective, that his drunkenness and general behaviour were
such as to warn off all but the most stupid and that it would therefore be
inadvisable to act on the High Commissioner’s suggestion.
M. Khakimov left Jedda on leave in October 1927. In reporting his
departure, Mr. Consul Stonehewer-Bird stated that it was unlikely that he
would return. He was unfit to stand the climate and was unable to do
anything in moderation. He either drank himself into a nervous break
down or was a teetotaller. V/
Owing to the mishandling of a Soviet trade “push” by the Charge
d’Affaires, M. Khakimov was recalled to Jedda in February 1928. He was
worried and depressed over the lack of success of his mission and was very
bitter against His Majesty’s Government. He finally left in October and
passed through Jedda again in June 1929, on his way to the Yemen, wdiere
he had been appointed Soviet commercial representative. He returned to
Russia from the Yemen in January 1932. (
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