Bush, Kohl Fail to Resolve Differences on Nuclear Forces

President Bush and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl held a telephone conversation today but failed to resolve their differences over East-West negotiations on short-range nuclear forces, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

“It does not appear that a basis for agreement is there, but we’ll continue to discuss it and see,” Fitzwater said.

He described the 20-minute conversation, initiated by Kohl, as “productive, cordial, but also direct,” using diplomatic language implying that differences remain.

“I would not characterize it as moving the situation one way or another, except in terms of understanding” each other’s position, he added.

Kohl wants NATO to accept a Soviet proposal for early talks on short-range nuclear forces--missiles with a range of less than 300 miles--but the United States and Britain say such negotiations should not take place until there is an agreement to reduce the Warsaw Pact’s advantage in conventional forces.

“There is no change in our position,” Fitzwater said. “We still believe early negotiations” with the Soviet Union on reducing short-range nuclear weapons “would be a mistake.”

Fitzwater said the United States would like to resolve the problem before the NATO summit starts May 29 in Brussels, “but if we can’t, it’s not the end of the world.”