Soviets Give Bluntest Warning So Far That Summit Is Imperiled
The Soviet Union said today that the Reagan Administration’s decision to abandon the strategic arms limitation treaty was designed to make another superpower summit impossible.
The commentary in the Communist Party newspaper Pravda was the bluntest warning so far that the U.S. violation of the terms of SALT II, possibly later this year, could end plans for a 1986 summit between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Pravda said U.S. policy has fallen under the control of hawks who want to undermine all arms control agreements.
It alleged that Washington intends to follow violation of the terms of the 1979 SALT II treaty with a scrapping of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and that deployment of some aspects of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” anti-missile program would violate the treaty.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
