the U.S. and Soviet governments. The Secretary of Agriculture is directed to submit a report on the status of these negotiations no later than June 4, 1973, for review by the President. -Transportation. Taking into account the growing U.S.-Soviet interest in the development of organizational arrangements for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of transportation, the President directs the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the Department of State, to arrange for U.S.-Soviet bilateral talks as soon as mutually convenient to explore the possibility of a government-to-government agreement in this area. These negotiations should have as their objective the development of a draft bilateral agreement for further consideration by the U.S. and Soviet governments. The Secretary of Transportation is directed to submit a report on the status of these negotiations no later than June 4, 1973, for consideration by the President. -Oceanography. The President has directed that the United States explore with the Soviet Union the possibility of a U.S.-Soviet agreement on cooperation in the field of oceanography. Accordingly, he directs the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Department of State, the National Science Foundation and other appropriate U.S. agencies, to arrange for U.S.-Soviet talks on this subject as soon as mutually convenient. These negotiations should have as their objective the development of a draft U.S.-Soviet bilateral agreement for further consideration by the U.S. and Soviet governments. The Secretary of Commerce is directed to submit a report on the status of these negotiations no later than June 4, 1973, for consideration by the President. 4 -Urban and Community Development. Taking into account the initial discussions of the Joint U.S.-Soviet Working Group on the Enhancement of the Urban Environment, the President directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to arrange for discussions on community development with the appropriate Soviet Ministries as soon as mutually convenient. These discussions should have as their objective a thorough assessment of the desirability of and the potential for government-to-government cooperation in this area. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is directed to submit a report on the results of these discussions no later than June 4, 1973, for consideration by the President. -Exchanges and Cultural Relations. The President has directed that the United States explore with the Soviet Union the possibility of augmenting the U.S.-Soviet Agreement on Exchanges and Cooperation in On April 25, Lynn informed Kissinger that the first meeting of the working group was "in progress." (Ibid.) Scientific, Technical, Educational, Cultural and Other Fields.5 The President directs the Secretary of State to arrange for U.S.-Soviet talks on this subject as soon as mutually convenient. These negotiations should have as their objective the development of a draft augmented agreement, extending the duration and expanding the scope of the present agreement, for further consideration by the U.S. and Soviet governments. The Secretary of State is directed to submit a report on the results of these negotiations no later than June 4, 1973, for consideration by the President. -Civil Aviation. The President has directed that the United States explore with the Soviet Union the possibility of augmenting the U.S.-Soviet Agreement on Civil Air Transport." The President directs the Secretary of State to arrange for U.S.-Soviet talks on this subject as soon as mutually convenient. These negotiations should have as their objective the development of a draft, augmented bilateral agreement for further consideration by the U.S. and Soviet governments. The Secretary of State is directed to submit a report on the status of these negotiations no later than June 4, 1973, for consideration by the President. The President has directed that no agreements with the Soviet Union be signed, initialled or otherwise concluded without his approval. 5 See footnote 2, Document 83. 6 "See footnote 7, Document 93. Henry A. Kissinger 104. Memorandum of Conversation1 Zavidovo, May 5, 1973, 11:30 a.m.-1:55 p.m. PARTICIPANTS Leonid I. Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee, CPSU Anatoli F. Dobrynin, Ambassador to USA Andrei M. Aleksandrov, Assistant to the General Secretary Georgi M. Kornienko, Head of USA Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Mr. Philip Odeen, NSC Senior Staff Mr. William Hyland, NSC Staff Peter Rodman, NSC Staff SUBJECTS Nuclear Agreement; SALT [Before the meeting began, the General Secretary took Dr. Kissinger out onto the balcony and showed him the view. A Soviet photographer, and Mr. Sonnenfeldt, took several pictures of the General Secretary and Dr. Kissinger both out on the balcony and in the office. [The group took their seats at the table in Brezhnev's office. The General Secretary took out a hunting knife and put it on the table in front of him, to everyone's amusement.] Nuclear Agreement2 Brezhnev: Mr. Kissinger and friends, may I welcome you all once again and express my satisfaction with the fact that we are meeting as arranged. In terms of time and significance, this is a very important meeting indeed. I do not doubt we should regard this meeting as a di 1 Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 75, Country Files-Europe-USSR, Kissinger Conversations at Zavidovo, May 5-8 1973. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The meeting was held at Brezhnev's office in the Politburo Villa at Zavidovo, the Politburo's hunting preserve located outside of Moscow. Brackets are in the original. 2 Kissinger summarized the meeting for Nixon in message Hakto 7, May 5, which reads in part as follows: Brezhnev "confirmed again his great stake in forthcoming summit. Brezhnev gave heavy emphasis to importance he attaches to Agreement on Prevention of Nuclear War making clear he seeks major psychological impact from it." (Ibid., Box 32, HAK Trip Files, HAK Moscow, London Trip, May 4-11, 1973, HAKTO & rect continuation of all that was achieved last year and as advance preparation for the forthcoming meeting with the President, this time in the United States. My colleagues and I highly value the desire of President Nixon and his assistants and the Administration generally to achieve the agreements on which we achieved understanding last year. If we seriously reflect on the substance and character of the processes underway at present, and what we are seeking to achieve, we can say without error this is a truly historic phase in the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States. The distinctive aspect of this process is that it is directed to the very noble objective of peaceful coexistence, peaceful friendship between two great states. The fact that this objective is indeed a noble one is true beyond doubt, and no one or no group in the world can question that this objective is a noble one. And I want to emphasize that all the more complex and responsible is our accomplishment at this meeting, which is to achieve an accord which would be in line with this objective. Unfortunately, history has piled up far too many adverse things, not only between the Soviet Union and the United States but also between many states in the world. We belong to a generation of people and statesmen who must step over many phases and go faster towards the ideals of mankind, faster than was the case in the past. I wanted to make these few remarks by way of introduction, because I and our entire leadership attach very great importance to the forthcoming meetings and to the agreements which we must prepare. I had occasion to say yesterday, and I want especially to emphasize today, that I am sure the President has given you broad authority and instructions to achieve the mission we have been entrusted with. Dr. Kissinger, we have before us a very wide-ranging agenda, many issues and documents to discuss, but there are some that have very top priority. I think it has already been agreed between us what the most important document is, the document that would truly emphasize the significance of the forthcoming meeting between the Soviet Union and the United States and to raise that meeting to that level that we all want to see it at. Therefore, if there are no objections on your part, we want to start with that topic, namely the atomic problem. Without so far as going into concrete content of each paragraph and article of the future document, I want to tell you at this point how we see the nature of this document in general. This is to be an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, that is, an agreement between our two nations. And in saying that, I am assuming we must do all we can to elaborate a clearcut and lucid agreement and terms that relate to the two nations, that is the Soviet Union and the United States. But of course the world so far is a very complex one. Therefore it is quite natural we will have to formulate in this document certain provisions which would cause no alarm or concern among your allies and ours and the other countries in the world. Dr. Kissinger: I wouldn't bet on that. Brezhnev: [Pauses] I think nonetheless that we should do all we can to alleviate such concern. Dr. Kissinger: I agree. Brezhnev: I believe not only on a personal plane but also as states and statesmen, we must see that it goes down in history as something which will be seen as a great exploit. And if we achieve this it will be indeed a great exploit. None of us in this world is eternal but history is eternal. The leadership may change and the Supreme Soviet may change and the Senate may change, but history will still be there. And it is from these positions that we should endeavor to approach an agreement on the nonuse of nuclear weapons against each other. I will not now speak of the significance of this entire problem on a personal plane, that is, for the President or Brezhnev or someone else; that is something we can consider when we have dotted all the i's on it. Of course, the United States is a country with a very rich history, starting from the first President to the present one. There are many aspects to this history. But I believe this one document, if it is signed in the form I see it in now, will make the present President of the United States the greatest President in the history of that country. And history may also make some reference to us. In any case, history won't blame us for it. Dr. Kissinger: History will record who initiated the document, too. Just about a year ago. Brezhnev: I think history will probably record both-all those who had a bearing in the elaboration of this document. After all, if one man says hello and another says hello, that means they both greeted each other. We did in fact begin discussion of this subject last year, and probably each of us has on more than one occasion reflected on the wordings that could be used in this document. I reflected on this last night, after reading it again. I would like first, before we go into a concrete discussion, to pose a question to you all, and also to myself in fact: What are we trying to achieve? What aim are we pursuing? If we know what our aim is, we can find a correct way of finding measures to get there. If we cannot, our aim will be crippled. [Before Sukhodrev's translation, Brezhnev gets up and asks if Dr. Kissinger would like the window open. Dr. Kissinger says yes. |