Office of the Historian

318. Protocol to the Interim Agreement Between the United States and the Soviet Union1

May 26, 1972.

PROTOCOL

  • TO THE INTERIM AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ON CERTAIN MEASURES WITH RESPECT TO THE LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS

The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

Having agreed on certain limitations relating to submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and modern ballistic missile submarines, and to replacement procedures, in the Interim Agreement,

Have agreed as follows:

The Parties understand that, under Article III of the Interim Agreement, for the period during which that Agreement remains in force:

The US may have no more than 710 ballistic missile launchers on submarines (SLBMs) and no more than 44 modern ballistic missile submarines. The Soviet Union may have no more than 950 ballistic missile launchers on submarines and no more than 62 modern ballistic missile submarines.

Additional ballistic missile launchers on submarines up to the abovementioned levels, in the U.S.—over 656 ballistic missile launchers on nuclear-powered submarines, and in the U.S.S.R.—over 740 ballistic missile launchers on nuclear-powered submarines, operational and under construction, may become operational as replacements for equal numbers of ballistic missile launchers of older types deployed prior to 1964 or of ballistic missile launchers on older submarines.

The deployment of modern SLBMs on any submarine, regardless of type, will be counted against the total level of SLBMs permitted for the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

[Page 917]

This Protocol shall be considered an integral part of the Interim Agreement.

For the United States of America For the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Richard Nixon Leonid I. Brezhnev2
The President of the United States of America The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU
  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 383, ACDA Files:FRC 383–98–0054, Box 1, Treaties, SALT, ABM. No classification marking. Nixon and Brezhnev signed the protocol in a televised ceremony in St. Vladimir Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace. The text of the protocol (23 UST 3462) is also printed in Department of State Bulletin, June 26, 1972, p. 921.↩
  2. Printed from a copy that bears Nixon’s and Brezhnev’s typed signatures.↩