225. Editorial Note
President Nixon and his party arrived in Moscow on June 27, 1974, for a summit meeting with Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev. During the first session on the morning of June 28 at 10:45 a.m., Nixon discussed the European security conference and MBFR in his opening statement. According to a memorandum of conversation, the President stated: “In a third area, the two strongest nations can and must work to find ways to work together in what might be called crisis areas in other parts of the world. Here we have the European Security Conference. We can discuss where problems are arising, which we are familiar with. Related to this is the reduction of forces in Europe. On our part we desire to have very frank discussions because Europe is a critical area of the world, and our two great nations should reduce to a very minimum conflicts between themselves in this area. We have a problem here which the General Secretary and his colleagues are very familiar with. It is more difficult for us to speak for our allies than for the General Secretary to speak for his. For example, I made a commitment to conclude the CSCE by the end of 1973. We have done as well as we can, and we are continuing to try, and perhaps with the Finnish [Page 669] compromise, which the General Secretary is familiar with, and other working level compromises, we can break the logjam at the Conference. I emphasize here that just as with MFN, where we made a commitment, we will not drag our feet, but will show goodwill and make progress, though there are problems—(1) political problems in the US, with which the General Secretary is familiar, and (2) problems of political influence in the Atlantic Community.” (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 77, Country Files, Europe, USSR, Memcons, Moscow Summit, June 27–July 3, 1974) The full text of the memorandum of conversation is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XV, Soviet Union, June 1972–August 1974.