Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310260
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO BY AP. SOVIET
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
During a stopover in Canada to meet with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Gorbachev spoke scathingly of U.S. insistence that a unified Germany remain a member of NATO. Saying the United States sounded "like an old record," he told reporters in Ottawa, "The West hasn't done much thinking. They try to dictate.
"I will disappoint you if you think the Soviet Union is so busy with perestroika that you can fish in troubled waters," he said.
U.S. officials sought to turn aside Gorbachev's harsh remark but acknowledged the question of Germany will overshadow all others on the summit agenda.
"These meetings are going to focus so heavily on Germany that just about everything else is going to be peripheral," declared a senior U.S. official. While arms control and regional issues are important, he said, "they are all going to be tied into what Gorbachev can try to get in terms of assurances about German reunification."
With the Soviet empire crumbling and the Warsaw Pact evaporating as a military force, Gorbachev has little leverage for his negotiations with President Bush, as U.S. officials see it. About the only card he has to play, they say, is the continued presence of Soviet military forces in East Germany, which the U.S. insists must be removed.
But the administration is sensitive to Moscow's concern about Germany and intends to address it.
"What happens will hinge on what kind of assurance we can give the Soviet Union that will reduce the level of their paranoia about an economic and military behemoth alongside them," said a key government official.
"In the end they will probably go for Germany being in NATO, but they will not hand off that chip [removing troops stationed in East Germany] without getting important concessions that provide them with reasonable security."
On the eve of the summit, officials described Bush as hopeful that his sessions with Gorbachev will help bolster the Soviet leader at home, where he has been under severe political pressure and where perestroika - his program of economic reform - so far has failed.
"The president wants to help Gorbachev and won't be too hard-nosed in his approach," said one official.
Gorbachev's white Aeroflot Ilyushin 62M jet landed at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington at 6:50 p.m. EDT, 20 minutes behind schedule because the Soviet president's news conference delayed his depature from Canada.
The air base had been closed to visitors. About 150 Soviets and some 400 U.S. Air Force personnel and family members gave the Gorbachevs a restrained reception.
Alighting onto the customary red carpet, Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, were greeted by Secretary of State James Baker and Joseph Reed, the U.S. chief of protocol. Raisa Gorbachev was given a bouquet of long-stemmed roses.
Gorbachev, in a brief arrival statement, said through a translator that he looked forward to the talks with Bush, adding "a lot will depend on their results in determining how things will work out not only between you Americans and us but also other states.
"This summit stands out in its importance, first of all, for the promise it holds of the first major step to reduce strategic, nuclear arms," he said. "Both sides have worked painstakingly together to prepare it."
by CNB