141. Memorandum From Secretary of State Shultz to President Reagan1
SUBJECT
- My April Trip to the Soviet Union
The Setting
My meetings with Shevardnadze and Gorbachev next week in Moscow should help clarify what to expect for the Moscow summit, especially on START. Our side has done a lot of work since Shevardnadze’s visit last month; if the Soviets have been equally busy, we may be able to pick up some momentum.
Shevardnadze will want to develop a substantive “concept” for your visit, and I will use this to push in areas of interest to us which might produce agreements to be finalized during your visit, or which will be ripe for discussion by you and Gorbachev. Shevardnadze also may suggest ways to record results at the summit. I will make clear to Shevardnadze that what counts most is a well-prepared and thorough discussion.
As you know, when Shevardnadze and I are in Geneva this week to sign the Afghanistan agreement, I will meet briefly with him to discuss the agenda for next week’s talks in Moscow.
The Agenda
With the Afghanistan agreement signed, arms control will have a higher profile in Moscow than it did during Shevardnadze’s visit here last month. I intend to take the initiative on the ABM Treaty, pressing our ideas on sensors and distinguishing testing from deployment, as a means of building on the December summit statement. I will also seek to tackle remaining issues such as Soviet reluctance to accept our standard “supreme national interests” clause in a new agreement, and Soviet non-compliance with the ABM Treaty.
On START, Soviet spokesmen continue to say they want a Treaty for the summit. We’ll see how badly. I’ll make a further effort to crack the ALCM counting problem. We’ll also press for Soviet acceptance of [Page 899] the ideas we began introducing in Washington on verifying mobile ICBM’s, and try again to capture the ICBM sublimit. I’ll use the session to make clear the full range of our problems with Soviet proposals on SLCMs.
Shevardnadze and I will review progress on other arms control issues. By the summit, we should be well on the way to completing improved verification of the two 1970s treaties on nuclear testing, putting us in a good position to seek ratification of the treaties by the end of the year. The Soviets will look for our reaction to their ideas for a summit statement on chemical weapons, and I plan to propose another round of CW proliferation talks this year. We’ll continue to make the point that the path to conventional weapons talks lies through a successful, balanced conclusion to the Vienna CSCE Meeting.
On human rights, in view of Shevardnadze’s lengthy talk in Washington on our performance, I plan to focus sharply on abuses which stem from official Soviet policies and which violate international agreements. I will press for action by the summit on the 17 cases you raised in March, and will hit hard on Soviet intransigence at the Vienna meeting. I will reaffirm that our decision on a Moscow human rights conference will be a function of Soviet human rights performance.
On the regional side, there may be some follow-up on Afghanistan. I also want to probe recent Soviet suggestions of a willingness to engage more constructively on Southern Africa. I will discuss the results of my Middle East trip and press Shevardnadze on the Iran-Iraq War; Dick Murphy will be along for detailed discussions. Elliott Abrams will have had exchanges with his Soviet counterpart this week, and I can pursue anything interesting which emerges from his talks. I will reemphasize the importance of Soviet restraint in supplying arms to Nicaragua.
An April 20–21 meeting of our Bilateral Review Commission will shape up any bilateral issues that require high-level attention. We will review prospects for concluding agreements by the summit in areas such as cooperation in basic scientific research, transportation, and fisheries. As we have discussed, I will also broach with Shevardnadze the possibility of moving ahead with a scaled-back version of the Kiev-New York consulate exchange, with both posts to open by the end of the year. Announcement could be made at the Moscow summit.
As you know, I will be returning from Moscow via side trips to Kiev and Tbilisi. En route to Washington, I will stop off in Brussels to brief our NATO allies.
- Source: Reagan Library, Shultz Papers, 1988 Apr.-May Memoranda for Pres. Ronald Reagan. Secret; Sensitive. Drafted by Parris; cleared by Ridgway, Simons, Steven Coffey (P), James Timbie (D), Robert Farrand (HA), R. Caldwell (EUR/RPM), James Holmes (PM), and Michael Stafford (S/ARN). An unknown hand initialed for Parris and the clearing officials, with the exception of Ridgway, who initialed her concurrence. There is no indication on the memorandum that Reagan saw it.↩