Foreign Relations of the United States, 1989–1992, Volume XXXI, START I, 1989–1991

131. Telegram From the Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Department of State¹

16962.

Moscow, May 22, 1990, 1406Z

SUBJECT

• Soviet Arms Control Experts Group. REF: a) State 164242² b) Moscow 16881³

1. Secret—Entire Text.

2. DCM conveyed ref A points May 22 to Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Karpov. Karpov said that he and a group of arms control experts planned to leave Moscow on Sunday, May 27, which would allow them three days of discussion in Washington before the arrival of President Gorbachev.

3. The DCM remarked that Washington was probably hoping for an earlier arrival of the Soviet team and asked whether Karpov could move up his departure date. Karpov responded that he could depart Moscow earlier—e.g. on Saturday, May 26—if it would be useful and if the U.S. side wished to work on Sunday. He said he faced the following situation. His people had just finished drafting a joint statement of agreement on START basic issues. (The draft, which he flashed before Emboffs, was 20 pages long, double-spaced.) He would send the draft to Masterkov on Wednesday⁴ for his comments, and would have his reply back by Thursday. Burt and Nazarkin, in the meantime, were working on the statement on future negotiations. Karpov concluded that he could thus perhaps arrive in Washington on Saturday, but not before then. Would Saturday and Sunday be working days? DCM replied that he thought they would be.

4. In accordance with Ref A, the DCM emphasized that the USG was also hoping for Soviet responses to recent U.S. moves on CFE. Karpov said that, unfortunately, he could not yet give a reaction to the most recent U.S. ideas, but that the Soviets were studying them. He observed that the United States also had received new ideas from the Soviet side. The Soviet side was now looking at ways to merge them.

5. Karpov, explicitly stating that he agreed with the U.S. objectives for the experts session (as set out in Ref A), pronounced the Soviet experts ready to discuss anything in Washington. He was upbeat on the amount of arms control progress which the summit could register. He praised the CW bilateral destruction agreement, referred to the non-proliferation statement as substantive (“Soderzhatel’niy”), and opined that the joint declaration on follow-on negotiations could be wrapped up for the summit.

6. Asked about the composition of the Soviet experts group, Karpov named Yuriy Nazarkin, Lem Masterkov, Sergey Batsanov (now in New York), Nikolay Sokov (see paras 7–8, Ref B for bio), and Oleg Grinevskiy, if CFE were also to be covered.

7. Action: please provide response to the proposal by Karpov in para 3.

Matlock

1. Source: Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, N90003–0358. Secret; Niact Immediate; Nodis.
2. See Document 130.
3. In telegram 16881 to Moscow, May 22, the Department transmitted biographical profiles of the Soviet delegation. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D900466–0320)
4. May 23.