‘Cold War Is Over’ Says Shevardnadze at NATO

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze today became the first Warsaw Pact minister to visit NATO headquarters and later said the “Cold War indeed is over.”

Shevardnadze had an unprecedented meeting with NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner and later visited the European Parliament for talks with Speaker Enrique Baron and a meeting with the political committee.

“My impression is the Cold War indeed is over,” Shevardnadze said before leaving for London. “It is my conviction we have every reason to hope the West and the East will find ways to end the confrontation.”

Referring to his visit to NATO headquarters earlier in the day, Shevardnadze said, “I hope this is the beginning of an important and serious dialogue, that we will be able to move from confrontation to cooperation between the military alliances.”

Shevardnadze’s agenda included an informal session with ambassadors of the 16 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states.

As Shevardnadze left NATO headquarters, he told reporters the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact and NATO “at this crucial stage in the development of the European process are able to play a very important stabilizing role.”

He said he and Woerner agreed there was a good chance to complete conventional forces talks in Vienna next year and to reach a U.S.-Soviet agreement on a 50% cut in strategic nuclear weapons. Progress on chemical weapons also was “quite encouraging,” he said.

Shevardnadze, at a news conference in the European Parliament, recalled the Soviet proposal to withdraw all forces from foreign territory in Europe, saying it should be done “on a mutual basis.”

“I think the Americans also should withdraw. If they would remain alone in Europe, it would be very boring for them,” he said.

On possible German reunification, he said many questions remain but that did not mean he ruled it out.