RUSSIANS AGREE TO MISSILE TALKS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090042-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2006
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: March 3, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090042-0
RUSSIANS. AGREE }
TO MISSILE TALKS
Move Intimated by Soviet United States to take counter-
By RAYMOND H. ANDERSON action and thereby lead to "an:
Special to The New York Times additional waste of resources
MOSCOW, March 2 -- The with no gain in security tot
disclosure today by President either side."
Johnson that Premier Kosygin Decision Delayed
had agreed to discuss a mora- Western diplomatic sources
torium on deployment of anti- here believe that Premier
missile defenses was fore- Kosygin still had not decided
shadowed by a hint here two on a reply to President John-
weeks ago that the Soviet Gov- son's letter when he went to
ernment was willing to hold Britain for an official visit early
such talks. in February.
This view was supported by
In a report tonight on the Mr. Kosygin's remarks on the
President's news conference, issue of antimissile defenses at
Tass, the Soviet press agency, a London news conference Feb.
made no mention of his remarks P.
on a letter from Premier. The premier declined to give
Kosygin agreeing to talks onI
a possible antimissile mora-
torium. The press agency re-
ported only that Mr. Johnson
had declared the United States
would continue its present
course in Vietnam.
The first indication that
Moscow might consent to a?
mutual halt on antimissile proj-
ects came Feb. L5, five weeks
after President Johnson had)
urged such a stop by Moscow'
in his State of the Union
address.
The President warned that
Soviet, installation of antimissile
defenses might -compel the
a direct answer to a question
about the feasibility of a mora-
torium, but he indicated a nega-
tive attitude toward any agree-
ment to halt work on antimissile
defenses.
"I think that defensive
systems which deter an attack
cannot be considered as the cause
of arms races, but rather repre-
sent a factor preventing the
annihilation of people," Mr.
Kosygin said then.
Six days later, Pravda, the
Soviet: Communist party news-~
paper, interpreted Premiere
Kosygin's remarks in a way that
suggested Moscow was willing!
to enter negotiations on an anti-i
missile moratorium.
"Speaking at a news confer-
ence in London, Premier Alcksei
N, Kosygin declared that the]
Soviet Government was ready
to discuss the problem of avert-
ing a new arms race, both i
offensive and defensive weap-
ons," Pravda said,
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090042-0