SECRET EXDIS DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation DATE SUBJECT Horn 21 February 1978 Arms Control M ddle East Misc USSR us PARTICIPANTS The Secretary Marshall D Shulman S MS Amb Anatoly F Dobrynin DISTRIBUTION --- - - - - - - - -- - --- Ambassador Dobrynin came in at our request we discussed the following matters 1 Horn The Secretary reviewed the results of Aaro jneetings with M7ng stu He indicated that Mengis us had repeated his assurance that Eth10 1a had no territorial ambitions beyond its own border but was d te rnined to have the Somalis withdrawn from the Ogaden Mengistu also indicated that any initiative at the Present time would have to come through the OAU and that emissaries had been sent to see Garba in Lagos The Secretary reported that Mengis had agreed to receive an Ambassador from the U S The supply of non- lethal equipment was also discussed On the whole the conversations had been successful in keeping the channels of communication open The secretary reported that the Somalis had been urged to withdraw from the ogaden He expressed his concern that the conflict could go on and could spill across the_border creating great omplications The secretary rged that t e_s vi7t Union join with us ln putting maximum efforts behind the OAU initiative for a ceasefire a nd mediation oobrynin repl ed th t the Soviet Union is prepared to do this particularly because it elieves that nothing useful can be_achieved at the UN security council at the present juncture He said that the Soviet union had lea ned tw days ago from the Nigerian Foreign Minister that he believed it ossi le to acc mplish something useful and that his complaints t his point were directed more against th e Somalis than against the E th iopians s Ms1 'fJl'b fJ i A 1o l04 2 22 78 ss OS-1254 2- ECRET EXQ_IS ____ _ ___ v __ - SECRET EXDIS DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation DATE SUBJECT Horn Arms Control M ddle East Misc us · PARTICIPANTS 21 February 1978 The Secretary Marshall D Shulman S MS USSR Amb Anatoly F Dobrynin DISTRIBUTION - - - - Ambassador Dobrynin came in at our request discussed the following matters We 1 Horn The Secretary reviewed the results of Aaron's meetings with M ng stu He indi ate that Mengistu had repeated his assurance that Ethiopia had no territorial ambitions beyond its own border but was determined to have the Somalis withdrawn from the Ogaden Mengistu also indicated that any initiative at the present time would have to come through the OAU and that emissaries had been sent to see Garba in Lagos The Secretary reported that Mengis had agreed to receive an Ambassador from the U S The supply of nonlethal equipment was also discussed On the whole the conversations had been successful in keeping the channels of communication open The Secretary reported that the Somalis had been urged to withdraw from the Ogaden He expressed his concern that the conflict could go on and could spill across the border creating great complications The Secretary urged that the Soviet Union join with us in putting maximum efforts behind the OAU initiative for a ceasefire and mediation Dobrynin replied that the Soviet Union is prepared to do this particularly because it believes that nothing useful can be achieved at the UN Security Council at the present juncture He said that the soviet union had learned two days ago from the Nigerian Foreign Minister that he believed it ossi le to acc mplish something useful and that his complaints t his point were directed more against the Somalis than against the Ethiopians s lf 1 1£'@fb fJ t z f m J04 2 22 78 2 • 65 OS-1254 SECRET EX Qli_ ___ --- SECRET EXDIS -2- report that the town of Ogaden He that he had so far Dobrynin referred to a previous inquiry about a the Ethiopians might be c ntemplating an effort to take Hargeisa as a hostage against Somali evacuation of the said he was personally skeptical about the report but forwarded the inquiry to Moscow without any response The Secretary observed that he had in testimony that morning asserted his bel ef tha the Sovie Union had no aspirations against somalia Dobrynin replied that this was a safe statement 2 ASAT The Secretary mentioned that he would be presenting a paper to the Soviet Union probably sometime next week with specific suggestions for a meeting on this subject 3 Israeli Nuclear Weapons Dobrynin gave the Secretary a non-paper asking for clarifications of CIA press reports that Israel possessed nuclear weapons and urging US influence to gain Israeli accession to the non-proliferation treaty The Secretary said that the Israelis had denied the possession of nuclear weapons that the CIA had indicated that Israel had the capability of producing them but was divided on the question of whether it had already done so He said that he would study the paper and reply 4 UN Charte Revis on Dobrrnin lso gave the Secretary a paper in Russian agreeing with the US position on not undertaking a revision of the UN Charter at the present time A similar paper is apparently being presented to other capitals 5 Indian Ocean Dobrynin said conversationallv that Mendelevich was disappointed at the small pr gress achieved in the Indian Ocean negotiations and the unwillingness of Warnke even to set a date for the next meeting 6 Gromyko's Health In answer to a question Dobrynin said that Gromyko had been operated on for prostate two days before and that it would he several days before it was known how serious the effects would be 7 Asad in Moscow The Secretary inquired about the conversations with Asad in Moscow Dobrynin said he had not yet received information but would report on the conversations later Congressional Commi ttG7 Vis1 t to Moscow _ Dobrynin mentioned that his military attache at a Pentagon lunch was told that the House ArMed Services Committee had expressed an interest in visiting Moscow and asked for guidance The Secretary expressed the view that it might be useful to have some selected members of that Committee make such a visit 8 SECRF T E DIS SECRET EXDIS -3- 9 soviet SALT Compliance In a separate conversation Shulman told Dobryn n that a_report w s being prepa ed for presentation to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a few days that would answer charges of Soviet non-compliance with the SALT 1 agreement Shulman explained that the US was sensitive to the confi- · dentiality of sec proceedings in which these i sues ere resolved and while the paper would draw upon the SC pro 7eedi gs it would avoid unnecessary detail about them Dobrynin said this sounded fine to him and that he would inform Moscow but h 7 anticipated no objections ' Shulman said that he would send Dobrynin a copy of the paper when it was ready for presentation to the Congress SECRET EXDIS - - -- iiCLASSIFIED f wtltOritY KN Oi9J Oj_ bn • The US press has been increasingly publishing of late ma-tierials in which conclusions are made regarding the possession by Israel of nuclear weapons A recent publication of the information to that effect with reference to a report by one of ·the US governmental agencies presents a new element in this connection Reports of such kind obviously cannot but cause deep concern in the Soviet Union lmown we have already more than once drawn attention o the US to the necessity of exerting inf'luence on Israel with a view of its accession to the Treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons However Israel has been obstinately refusing so far to become a party to the Treaty and while its nuclear activities remain outside any international control continues to increase in every possible way its nuclear potential It is not a secret that such types of aircraft and missiles are also made available • to Israel which can be used as nuclear ·weapons delivery vehicles It is not difficult to imagine the consequences - both for the situation in the liddle Bast and for the international situatior in general - which could be brought about by the possession of nuclear weapons by Israel J ¼13 is 0 Therefore proceeding from the determination jointly expressed by our countries to make efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons we would like to receive clarifications to what extent are true the reports that the us governmental agencies as far back as in 1974 came to the conclusion that Israel is in possession of nuclear weapons