REAGAN, GORBACHEV SET ICELAND SUMMIT, UNDERLINING U.S. QUEST FOR ARMS PACTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403340006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: October 1, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403340006-5
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Reagan, Gorbachev Set Iceland Summit,
Underlining U.S. Quest for Arms Pacts
WASHINGTON-In a surprise decision,
President Reagan agreed to meet Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland next
week, a move that underscores the U.S. de-
termination to seek new arms control
agreements despite recent tensions with
Moscow.
Mr. Reagan's acceptance of the Soviet
proposal involves some concessions. Pre-
This article was prepared by Fred-
erick Kempe, John Walcott and Ellen
Hume in Washington, and Mark
D'.lnastasio in New York.
viously, the president had insisted on meet-
ing Mr. Gorbachev in the U.S. after the
November elections. But in his White
House announcement of the Oct. 11-12
meeting in Reykjavik, Mr. Reagan made it
clear that he's ready to work toward better
relations with Moscow after the Kremlin's
release of an American reporter.
"I've said for a long time that the
chances are better than they've been in
many years for reaching some agreement
on arms reduction," Mr. Reagan ex-
plained.
The plan for the Iceland meeting was
announced simultaneously by Mr. Reagan
and by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze from the United Nations, in
conjunction with news that Soviet spy sus-
pect Gennadi Zakharov had pleaded no
contest to all three counts of espionage
charges filed against him by the U.S. Mr.
Zakharov later boarded a jet bound for
Moscow.
Orlov's Emigration Cleared
They also announced that the Soviet Un-
ion would allow a prominent Soviet dissi-
dent, Yuri Orlov, to emigrate. Mr. Orlov is
a physicist and human-rights activist who
was arrested in 1977. The announcements
came the day after the Soviets freed U.S.
News & World Report journalist Nicholas
Daniloff from his detention in Moscow on
espionage charges.
The administration also softened its or-
der that 25 named Soviet U.N. diplomats
accused of espionage activities leave the
U.S. by yesterday. To head off threatened
retaliation by Moscow, the administration
extended the deadline by two weeks and is
considering withdrawing the demand in
certain individual cases.
For its part, the Soviet Union has as-
sured the U.S. that it has reduced the size
of its mission from 243 members to 205,
less than the 218 the U.S. had demanded by
today.
Setting Pace of Talks
Next week's meeting could give Mr.
Gorbachev an opportunity to try to set the
pace for future arms control negotiations.
"The meeting in Iceland could be either
the lead-in to a real summit or a way for
Gorbachev to get out of coming to the
U.S.," says one administration official. "If
he likes what he hears, he can move for-
ward; if he doesn't like what he hears,
he can blame Reagan for not being inter
ested" in banning tests of nuclear weapons
or showing any flexibility on the American
Strategic Defense Initiative.
U.S. officials believe that Mr. Gorba-
chev proposed the meeting to ensure that
the two sides could achieve concrete arms
agreements that eluded him at the first
summit last year in Geneva.
Impact of Daniloff Arrest
Officials also believe the meeting will
help Mr. Gorbachev regain the initiative in
East-West relations that he lost during the
dispute caused by Moscow's arrest of Mr.
Daniloff. U.S. officials believe the negative
impact of the controversy on Moscow's im-
age was greater than Soviet diplomats had
expected.
With the Daniloff case cleared up, Sec-
retary of State George Shultz expressed
hope that the Iceland meeting can "move
things to the point where ... we can see
the gap closed and the prospect of an
agreement." He said the superpower lead-
ers will discuss arms control issues, in-
cluding possible reductions on medium-
range missiles in Europe, regional issues
and human rights.
Mr. Shultz expressed hope that Mr. Gor-
bachev still will come to the U.S. for a
summit this year, as agreed to at the first
summit in Geneva. But Mr. Shevardnadze
wasn't as optimistic. "The trouble is that
on the central issues-space and nuclear
arms-there has been no progress," he
said at his New York news conference.
"The objective of the (Iceland) meeting
is to make a direct assessment of the situa-
tion and work out some clear instructions,
I would say clear directions, designed to
achieve some progress ... at least in
some questions relating to nuclear arms,
sufficient for obtaining substantive re-
sults," the Soviet foreign minister said.
-President Reagan's decision to go to
Iceland is somewhat of a political gamble.
He will be criticized by the right for not
holding out for a U.S.-based summit, and
some senior officials fear they'll have little
time to properly prepare the president for
such an important meeting.
But Republican strategists say the dip-
lomatic initiative could help the GOP re-
tain control of the Senate in the Nov. 4
elections. Thomas Griscom, executive di-
rector of the Republican Senatorial Cam-
paign Committee, said, "In off-year elec-
tions people look for reasons to vote
against the president's party. The economy
is in good shape and we've just defused the
war-and-peace issue."
More immediately, White House offi-
cials hope the environment around a Gor-
bachev-Reagan meeting also will help
them defeat congressional efforts to im-
pose economic sanctions against South Af-
rica. Secretary of State Shultz told 10 Re-
publican senators that they would undercut
the president on the eve of his meeting
with Mr. Gorbachev if they voted to over-
ride his veto of the sanctions.
Test of Reagan Seen
According to East Bloc diplomatic
sources, Mr. Gorbachev and his senior ad-
visers requested the meeting to explore re-
ports that Mr. Reagan finally is serious
about arms negotiations. They say the So-
viet leader sees the meeting as a low-risk
way of testing Mr. Reagan's intentions and
probing U.S. flexibility.
former Central Intelligence Agency an-
alyst Arnold Horelick, now at Rand Corp.,
agrees that Mr. Gorbachev "M truing to
determine whether it is wise or safe or de-
sirable for him to come to the U.S_" for a
more formal summit later. "It is insurance
against ailure." _
Some U.S. officials expect that Mr. Gor-
bachev will try to put Mr. Reagan on the
defensive. "The president said he wouldn't
make a deal to get Daniloff back, and he
did," one administration official said. "He
said he wouldn't let Gorbachev off the hook
by agreeing to a summit anywhere but the
U.S., and now he has. I wouldn't be sur-
prised if Gorbachev thinks the momentum
is on his side," the official explained.
However, U.S. officials say that the
short lead time before the meeting means
that Mr. Reagan won't be under pressure
to produce concrete deals.
The Soviets' primary goal is to block
the Strategic Defense Initiative, Mr. Rea-
gan's "Star Wars" plan to shield U.S.
forces from attack. But Mr. Gorbachev
may be able to come to a U.S. summit if
he can get an agreement that cuts me-
dium-range missiles in Europe and if he
can get some smaller accords. The Soviet
Union has moved closer to the U.S. posi-
tion on an agreement limiting missiles in
Europe, giving the U.S. additional reason
to come to Iceland.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403340006-5