Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990 TAG: 9005260350
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Speaking at a news conference following talks with French President Francois Mitterrand, Gorbachev flashed the trump card he will doubtlessly play in summit talks with President Bush next week, making continued improvement in East-West relations in Europe conditional on respect for Soviet security concerns over the emerging status of Germany.
"I am raising these questions in such sharp terms not to try to scare all of you," Gorbachev told Soviet and foreign reporters. "I am saying this for one purpose: We must hold together, bearing in mind the interests of the Germans, the Europeans and the entire world community."
As the fusion of NATO-member West Germany and its Warsaw Pact neighbor East Germany nears, the Kremlin wants the reunified nation to belong to both defense alliances, calling that a safeguard of the European balance of power.
The Bush administration, however, favors NATO membership alone, as do the leaders of both Germanys, although they differ on what character and purpose the alliance should have.
Were Germany to opt to join NATO only, Gorbachev said, "what should we do then about all the negotiating processes, including the European process - the CSCE process, the Vienna disarmament process? Then we must take a fresh look at whether we should pursue the same policy, whether we should base it on the same approaches."
The CSCE is the the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an outgrowth of the so-called Helsinki Accords. Separate talks on reducing conventional forces in central Europe are being held in Vienna.
Gorbachev scoffed at the possibility that NATO countries, now proclaiming their respect for the will of a sovereign Germany, would acquiesce if it chose to become a Soviet ally instead.
"Then I'm sure the Western countries would immediately get together to discuss how they should proceed," he said.
He did sketch out a possible compromise: a status in NATO for Germany akin to France's. France is a member of the alliance's political organizations despite Gen. Charles de Gaulle's decision to pull the French armed forces out of its unified command. But Gorbachev seemed to insist that even that halfway status be coupled with Warsaw Pact membership.
Gorbachev stressed that the Soviet Union's status as one of the victorious World War II Allies - with France, Britain and the United States - empowers it to "complete the process of postwar settlement," and that, until a solution is found to Soviet liking, about 300,000 Soviet troops will remain in their garrisons in East Germany.
"On the basis of those international legal acts, the Soviet Union will remain where it is now, with its Group of Forces [in Germany]," Gorbachev said. "Is this natural? It is natural."
The reassessment of foreign policy evoked by Gorbachev could have tremendous implications for East-West relations and what in popular terms is known as "the end of the Cold War." His statement means the Soviets could shift their stance in:
The arms negotiations in Vienna embracing 23 countries that are now striving for a landmark treaty mandating reductions in five major categories of weapons, which would be a large step toward ending the postwar military standoff on the continent.
The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe that has defused tensions though military inspections and other means, and that is searching for further agreements in the fields of human rights, economic cooperation and defense and security issues.
Gorbachev, who noted that the future of Germany took up as much as 70 percent of his three hours of talks with Mitterrand, said a Germany belonging to only one military bloc would impermissibly tilt the balance of forces and endanger the construction of what he calls "a common European home."
In recent days, U.S. officials have asserted that the Kremlin has imposed a virtual freeze on the Vienna conventional forces in Europe talks, or CFE, apparently because of an ongoing reassessment of its strategic position in a changing Europe.
by CNB