79. Memorandum of Conversation1
SUBJECT
- Czechoslovakia and Arms Limitation
PARTICIPANTS
- Anatoliy F. Dobrynin, Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
- Eugene V. Rostow, Under Secretary for Political Affairs
At the Secretary’s dinner on the Honey Fitz, on August 19, Ambassador Dobrynin invited Under Secretary Rostow to withdraw for a private talk. The topics covered are treated in separate memoranda.2
Rostow commented that the Soviet decisions at Cierna seemed wise to us, and potentially very important. Dobrynin said these were matters of great difficulty for his government. Rostow said we understood that, and had tried, as the Secretary had made clear to him, not to make the problem more complex. Dobrynin said that that was appreciated. Rostow said we thought the NATO proposals at Reykjavik were constructive, and he hoped they were being carefully considered in this connection. Dobrynin asked how far those proposals went. Rostow said we had no official position on that question, but remarked on a personal basis that he thought they would find we were willing to examine any issue they wished to raise in the field of balanced and mutual force reduction, arms limitation, and European security, in the interest of reducing tensions and promoting détente.