Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180298
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
No details of the plan were released, but Gorbachev spokesman Vitaly Ignatenko said it is "fully in line with the Soviet position that there should be an unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait."
Tass quoted Ignatenko as saying the proposal, which comes as the war threatens to explode in an allied ground offensive, offers "a concrete plan of settlement in the Persian Gulf through political means."
The Iraqi envoy, Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, received the plan after a 3 1/2-hour meeting with Gorbachev that Ignatenko called "very constructive."
Aziz told reporters at Moscow's VIP air-port before departing that the talks were "important," and that Iraq planned to follow them up soon, but he did not elaborate. His plane departed at 5:15 p.m. (9:15 a.m. EST).
Ignatenko told a news conference Aziz came to Moscow to explain Iraq's offer Friday to withdraw from Kuwait and that he told Gorbachev the proposal contained "no conditions," but was a "program" for negotiations.
President Bush had rejected the Iraqi offer because it linked a withdrawal to other Middle East conflicts. The Soviets first welcomed the offer as a starting point, then said the condi- Ignatenko would not give any details of the proposal presented today except to say it `envisages political measures which we believe were accepted with understanding by the Iraqi side.' tions could make it meaningless.
Ignatenko would not give any details of the proposal presented today except to say it "envisages political measures which we believe were accepted with understanding by the Iraqi side."
"My impression is that Tariq Aziz was very constructive," Ignatenko said.
Aziz planned to return to Moscow "very soon" after discussing the plan with Saddam, the Soviet spokesman said.
Aziz had considered staying in Moscow, but decided to return to Baghdad to deliver the plan in person because telephone lines between the capitals are "unreliable," Ignatenko said without explaining further.
"He'll have to report personally to Saddam Hussein and the Revolutionary Command Council," Ignatenko said.
Ignatenko said Gorbachev did not give President Bush or other Western leaders advance notice of his peace plan but would brief them later in the day.
Both Iraq and the United States had said they expected the war to become bloodier if nothing came of today's Moscow meeting. Nevertheless, Aziz was quoted beforehand as saying he carried no new proposal to Moscow.
Accompanied by Iraqi Deputy Premier Saadoun Hammadi, Aziz met first today with his Soviet counterpart, Alexander Bessmertnykh, and Yevgeny Primakov, a presidential envoy and Middle East expert. The officials then joined Gorbachev.
Gorbachev's plan "took into account the real situation, with a view to avoiding further escalation of the bloodshed, and [Friday's] statement by the Iraqi leadership," Tass quoted Ignatenko as saying.
by CNB