232. Editorial Note
On November 22, 1987, Secretary of State George Shultz flew to Geneva to meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze to discuss preparations for the upcoming Washington Summit, details of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, plans for a 1988 [Page 1007] Moscow Summit, and the ongoing Strategic Arms Reduction Talks and Defense and Space Talks. Shultz met with Shevardnadze November 23–24 before flying to Brussels to brief North Atlantic Treaty Organization Foreign Ministers and returning to Washington later that day. The memoranda of conversations between Shultz and Shevardnadze are scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. VI, Soviet Union, October 1986–January 1989, Documents 98–102.
In their morning meeting of November 23, Shultz and Shevardnadze appointed Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev and Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Arms Control Matters Paul Nitze to lead a working group to discuss onsite verification sites and procedures for the INF Treaty and report back to the heads of delegations. Memoranda of conversation of the working groups are scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. XII, Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, 1984–1987.
Akhromeyev and Nitze reported back to Shultz and Shevardnadze in November 24 sessions lasting from 4:15–4:55 p.m. and 5:05–5:40 p.m. Shevardnadze began the second session by saying “there was cause to congratulate the leaders, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and President of the United States Ronald Reagan, on an important and momentous occasion. It had begun with them at Geneva, and they had carried it on at Reykjavik. Their contribution had been decisive, in Moscow and Washington.” The Soviet foreign minister “was truly pleased and happy that we had reached the final stage; we were witnesses to a momentous occasion.” (Memorandum of Conversation, November 24; [Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S-IRM Records, Memoranda of Conversations Pertaining to United States and USSR Relations, 1981–1990, Lot 93D188, Geneva—11/23–24/87]) The full memorandum of conversation is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, vol. VI, Soviet Union, October 1986–January 1989, Document 102.
Shultz thanked Shevardnadze for his kind words and expressed agreement. “One of the things the sides had seen in the past two years,” Shultz said, “was how difficult it is to translate what the leaders had agreed into a treaty. But it was now a done thing. Now the sides should move on to a bigger task. There was less time this time, before the Moscow meeting. But perhaps we had acquired practice and a sense of competence that we could confront the problems.” The secretary “valued his relationship with Shevardnadze and their ability to work together. Reykjavik had also been the first place General Akhromeyev had appeared, and when the Secretary had heard he was to be here he had taken it as a good sign.” (Ibid.)
After a discussion of outstanding differences, Shevardnadze reiterated the Soviet position that an agreement on Strategic Arms Reduction [Page 1008] Treaty “could be reached in a short period, on the assumption, of course, that the ABM Treaty would be preserved.” Akhromeyev asserted “that the rest was details,” and stated that the working group would continue its discussions and report back prior to the Soviet delegation’s scheduled departure that evening. (Ibid.) No memorandum of conversation for the working group meeting was found; see, however, Document 235.