Office of the Historian

204. Telegram 196181 From the Department of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union1

Washington, August 7, 1976, 0131Z.

196181. Exdis for the Ambassador only. Subject: TTBT/PNE: Démarche to Dobrynin.

1. The attached note was given to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin on August 5, evening, Washington time, with the request that he obtain a response from his government as quickly as possible. Access to this communication should be strictly limited pending the Soviet response.

[Page 645]

2. Begin text: The President has submitted the Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Weapons Tests of July 3, 1974, and the Treaty on Underground Nuclear Explosions for Peaceful Purposes of May 28, 1975, to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification. We cannot predict how much time the ratification process will require. Therefore, we wish to confirm that the United States intends to continue to observe the yield limits contained in these two treaties pending their entry into force, on the understanding that the USSR will act in the same way. We plan no public announcement of this understanding at this time, but we anticipate that there will be a need to make this understanding known during the ratification process.

In this connection, the U.S. side notes that preliminary data from Soviet tests of July 4 and July 29 indicate that the yield of both tests may have exceeded 150 kt. End text.

3. [1 paragraph (9 lines) not declassified]

Habib

  1. Summary: The Department transmitted the text of a note delivered to Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin the evening of August 5 that underscored the U.S. commitment to observing the yield limits contained in the TTB and PNE treaties.

    Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D760304–0833. Secret; Priority; Exdis. Drafted by Fuerth; cleared by Marcum, Phelps, and Peter Bridges (S/S); approved by Armitage. All brackets are in the original except those indicating text that remains classified.

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