Tasking for assistants for international issues for the upcoming trip to Togliatti March 20 1986 Gorbachev To confirm the line of the Congress1 in international affairs and thoroughly kick the Americans We haven’t in fact received any answer to my proposal from January 15th We are not satisfied by how the West has reacted to it We truly wish to achieve détente and disarmament Unfair play is now no longer possible It’s impossible to lie to each other now anyway In response to our proposal on nuclear disarmament they slip us the topic of conventional arms We are prepared to resolve that issue as well We are for a balance in all types of weapons including conventional We are for verification but verification of disarmament not improvement of weapons We are against the negotiations and arguments turning into never-ending discussions where the heart of the matter is lost About the new meeting with Reagan We remain committed to the process started in Geneva We want to preserve the impulses of Geneva and Paris We are for dialogue with Europe and the United States and continuing contact with the leaders of European countries and the President of the United States However we must see clearly how everyone acts after Geneva We will fulfill our obligations including to the American people These are our steps our statement on January 15th this is everything that is included in the report to the Congress The Congress has advanced the concept of security and taken responsibility in front of the whole world But what are we seeing from Europe and the U S Only subterfuge departure from the heart of the matter attempts to get off by way of halfmeasures and half-promises They talk about peace but what about their actions We have not detected a serious approach from France or England although we haven’t yet proposed disarmament to those two countries The Europeans demanded that we set the continent free of the euromissiles We are prepared to do so But what are we hearing in return It turns out that now the Europeans aren’t interested Now they want “Pershings ” In addition to this there are direct provocations the American ship in the Black Sea our UN staff is harassed injecting anti-Sovietism attempting to distract the public from our initiatives They’re counting on provoking the USSR so that it will shut the door Nevertheless we hope and wait How will we continue the Geneva process It is not only in our interest It is in everyone’s interest Here a new thinking is necessary It’s already strongly knocking at the door for we have come to the line and we are not tired of repeating ourselves – the processes beyond it are uncontrollable 1 XXVII CPSU Congress which was held in Moscow from February 25 through March 6 1986 Source The Gorbachev Foundation Archive Translated by Tal Solovey for the National Security Archive