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At the end of the extensive interview, Grunwald lightened the serious tone by inquiring whether Gorbachev's attractive wife Raisa would accompany the General Secretary to the summit talks in Geneva. Gorbachev said she would. "That's good," said Grunwald. "You know, the Western press is in love with her." The jocular answer was vintage Gorbachev: "Well, in that case, maybe I should reconsider."
TIME originally submitted six written questions, and Gorbachev then agreed to supplement his written answers with oral ones to other questions. Herewith the slightly condensed transcripts of the written interview, followed by more than two hours of conversation with his American visitors.
Q. How would you characterize U.S.-Soviet relations at this juncture, and what are the primary events that are defining that relationship?
A. Had you asked me this question some two months ago, I would have said that the situation in our relations was becoming somewhat better and that some hopes of positive shifts were appearing. To my deep regret, I could not say that today.
The truth should be faced squarely. Despite the negotiations that have begun in Geneva and the agreement to hold a summit meeting, relations between our two countries are continuing to deteriorate, the arms race is intensifying, and the war threat is not subsiding. What is the matter? Why is all this happening? My colleagues and I are quite exacting and self-critical when it comes to our own activities not only in this country but also outside of it, and we are asking ourselves again and again if (the decline in relations) is somehow connected with our actions. But what is there that we can reproach ourselves with in this context? In this critical situation Moscow is trying to practice restraint in its pronouncements about the U.S.; it is not resorting to anti-American campaigns, nor is it fomenting hatred for your country. We believe it very important that even in times of political aggravation the feeling of traditional respect harbored by the Soviet people for the American people should not be injured, and as far as I can judge, that feeling is largely a mutual one.
And is it bad that when the disarmament negotiations have resumed and preparations are under way for a first summit meeting in six years, we are persistently seeking ways to break the vicious circle and bring the process of arms limitation out of the dead end? That is precisely the objective of our moratorium on nuclear explosions and of our proposal to the U.S. to join it and to resume the negotiations on a complete ban on nuclear tests as well as of the proposals regarding peaceful cooperation and the prevention of an arms race in space. We are convinced that we should look for a way out of the current difficult situation together.