Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990 TAG: 9006060279
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK LENGTH: Medium
Shevardnadze made the announcement in a speech to foreign ministers of the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Secretary of State James Baker was also there.
Shevardnadze said that to "create favorable conditions" for future talks on eliminating short-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the Soviet Union will unilaterally withdraw from Central Europe 60 of its roughly 1,400 tactical nuclear missile launchers, as well as more than 250 pieces of nuclear-capable artillery and 1,500 of its estimated 8,000 nuclear warheads.
Shevardnadze said the weapons would be brought back to the Soviet Union but not destroyed.
When pressed for more details, a Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman, Vitaly Churkin, said he could not elaborate.
While Shevardnadze said this withdrawal had been foreshadowed during last week's summit meeting between presidents Bush and Gorbachev, Baker aides said a review of notes from all those meetings found no such move hinted at.
American officials seemed rather miffed that after all the summit talk about a more open relationship between Gorbachev and Bush, the Soviets sprang another arms control surprise in Europe only two days after the summit ended.
Baker dismissed the military significance of the Shevardnadze announcement.
"These are weapons that would be withdrawn in any event as part of the unilateral withdrawal" of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and East Germany, Baker said. Later, he added: "This is something that we and the NATO allies have been calling on for some time, because the Soviets have quite an advantage in these weapons."
The Soviet move seems to have been directed largely at West Germany. The German public appears increasingly reluctant to see NATO nuclear weapons based on its soil.
by CNB