133. Telegram From Secretary of State Vance to the Department of State1

Secto 8021. For the President from the Secretary. Subject: Private Meeting With Gromyko.

I am reporting by septel on arms control discussions with Gromyko Wednesday.2 In a private meeting with him, I discussed the dissident trials and delivered your oral message.3 On the slander charges against two U.S. correspondents,4 Gromyko thought something would be worked out. He was less sanguine on the Crawford affair.5 He indi[Page 430]cated that at some future time he would wish to discuss the handling of intelligence matters, but did not think it useful to do so now.

Vance
  1. Source: Carter Library, Brzezinski Donated Material, Geographic File, Box 19, U.S.S.R.—Prisoner Exchanges: (5/78–7/78). Secret; Cherokee; Immediate; Nodis. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the White House Situation Room.
  2. July 12; see Document 132.
  3. See Document 131.
  4. See footnote 2, Document 129.
  5. Reference is to F. Jay Crawford, a representative of International Harvester, who was seized by Soviet police on June 12 on charges of currency violation. See David K. Shipler, “Soviet Police Seize a U.S. Businessman,” The New York Times, June 14, 1978, p. A6.