East-West: Andropov's Ultimatum

If the missiles go in, the Soviets pledge to walk out at Geneva

Seldom had the vast Soviet propaganda machine sputtered and coughed so loudly. It began when Kremlin Spokesman Leonid Zamyatin strongly hinted three weeks ago that the Soviets would pull out of the Geneva talks on medium-range missiles if NATO went ahead with deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles in Europe. Two days later, Warsaw Pact foreign ministers meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, ambiguously announced that they favored continuation of the negotiations, but only if NATO delayed deployment. Then Zamyatin...

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