SECRET NODIS Classification TO S S - FROM Director S S-S - Leo Reddy SUBJECT MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION March 28 1978 Date Memcon received in S S-S for processing on 3 24 78 Mr Anderson The Secretary Ambassador Anatolity Dobrynin Date March 16 1978 Notetaker S MS MDShulman lll N 0 0 The attached memorandum of conversation is submitted for an S S clearance and approval of distribution A brief summary of any action commitments made at the meeting and an indication of any follow-up action being taken on tho se commitments follow below together with suggested distribution Please return the rnerncon directly to my office for distribution by S S-I • ACTION COMMITMENTS o a NONE i FOLLOW-UP ----- 2 4 j NONE 1 µtl vZ Ve Distribution --- -s t f--v- S S - ' - - - - - - -E_U_R _ PM_ - ' DECLASSJFJED Authority tJM7qD - l Cleared S S Noted s s-s _sE _ C_R_E_ T _N_o_nr _ s_ _ _ _ __ CLASSIFICATION rllf v _ SECRET NODI s s r Nop s · 28 78 8 6035 DEPARTMENT OF STATE OO@IDJ Memorandum ol Conversation DATE SUBJECT F ILES 16 March 1978 Middle East Horn of Africa SALT Other Multilateral Matters us PARTICIPANTS USSR The Secretary Amb Anatoliy Dobrynin Marshall Shulman S MS Gerard Smith S AS Portions DISTRIBUTION S D P S P NSC S S S AS S MS EUR PM NEA AF ACDA IO Embassy Moscow co N 0 - N 0 SUMMARY During a tour d'horizon at a luncheon prior to Dobrynin's return to Moscow on consultations the Secretary handed Dobrynin oral notes responding to previous Soviet inquiries about South African nuclear test plans and Israeli possession of nuclear weapons Dobry nin presented an oral note deploring the Israeli military action in southe rn Lebanon and urging the US to use its influence to induce Israeli withdrawal The Secretary said we would call for Israeli withdrawal and the es tablishment of a UN peacekeeping force On the Horn of Africa the Secretary expressed satisfaction that the Ethiopians had not crossed the border into Somalia but indicated concern about reports of reprisals in the Ogaden Dobry nin said the Ethiopians had b een told that the Sovi ets and Cubans did not intend to and preferred not to become invo lve d in Eritrea 0 00 MIDDLE EAST Dobrynin handed over an oral note on the Israel-Lebanon situation The note asserted that Israel 's military action is dangerous and that the risk of involvement by other Middle East states cannot be ruled out It said Israeli military intervention in Lebanon could set back by many years the possibility of a Middle East settleme nt and urged the US to exert influence on Israel to halt the intervention and withdraw The Secretary told Dobrynin that we would call for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and the establishment of a UN peace keeoing force in the area to stabilize the situation He said we hop d the Lebanese would bring the matter to the Security Counc i l but that we would consider doing so if they did not D afting Offiu and OffiurJ f 'N s MS MDShulman srn l J FORM os - 1254 x28704 z Gs N CROf SECRET NODIS GDS l 11£0 i DECLASSIFIED Authority kJ M'lqD 7 SECRET NOD IS -2Dobrynin replied that the Soviet position was simply to_c ll for Israeli withdrawal without conditions He expressed the pi ion that the Lebanese would agree to a peacekeeping force only if i t had the concurrence of the Syrians He said that he would keep us informed of any development in the Soviet position and the Secreta 7 y said that we would keep the Soviet Union informed of our plans with regard to the Security Council On the topic of a comprehensive Middle East settlement Dobrynin explained why the Soviets reacted so strongly to the Sadat initiative He said they had just succeeded in obtaining Syrian agreement to go to a Geneva conference when Sadat announced his trip N N HOR OF AFRICA The Secretary told Dobrynin we were pleased the Somalis had withdrawn and that the Ethiopian forces and those fighting with them had respected the border but he expressed concern at recent reports of reprisals in the Ogaden Dobrynin expressed the personal view that this might be because of Siad Barre's support of irregular forces left behind The Secretary said we were planning to give support to the UN High Commissioner's efforts to deal with human needs in the area and hoped the Soviets would cooperate He also informed Dobrynin that the President wourd be sending Moose as emissary to Siad Barre Dobrynin implied that the reduction or withdrawal of Soviet forces from the area would be less difficult if there were not public statements to make i t seem that this was being done under pressure Dobrynin said the Ethiopians had been informed that the Soviets and Cubans would be very careful not to be involved in Eritrea When questioned about the Cuban and Soviet presence on the coast around Assab Dobrynin said he had no information but that he would find out when he got to Moscow Dobrynin made the familiar point about the presence of US forces in Iran in justifying a Soviet case for a presence in Ethiopia adding that the Administration had testified before the Congress that the US military presence would go as high as 40 000 The Secretary corrected him and pointed out that the US has about 1200 uniformed personnel plus about 6000 civilian contract employees connected with sales of military equipment He said that the total us community including the above their dependents and businessmen is about 40 000 In the course of the conversation on the Horn Dobrynin mentioned that the Somalis had recently raised with the Soviet Union the question of whether the idea of a federation in the Horn discussed by Castro during his visit last year could be revived but he said they were not given any encouragement SECRET NODIS DECLASSIFIED Authority ' 1CZD 7 · SECRET NODIS -3SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR TEST SITE Ambassador Gerard Smith joined the conversation during discussion of this subject The Secretary gave Dobrynin an oral note in response to the Soviet messag 7 of March 6 In the discussion the Secretary and Smith made the points that we had no information about the additional s ites mentioned by the Soviets and that we would be g lad to have any further information the Soviet Union wished to make available We did not think a Security Council discussion of the subject would b 7 useful at this time and we would hope the USSR would consult with us before going to the Council 0 u N • 0 0 a Dobrynin asked Smith whether our observers had vi sited the site and was told that the y had not Smith also referred to a Pravda story on March 8 that claimed NATO was g iving South Africa nucrear assistance he emphasized that this was in error--it was completely wrong ISRAELI NUCLEAR CAPABILITY In response to a recent Soviet message-onthis subJect the Secretary gave Dobrynin an oral note saying that we accepted Israeli assurances that they had not produced nuclear weapons Dobrynin rather persistently questioned whether we really believed what the Israelis said The Secretary said there was no evidence that Israeli assuranc e s were untrue ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION TREATY The Secretary referred to a recent Soviet message on this subject explaining that it would not be feasible for us to presentthis treaty to the Senate for ratification before the UN Special Session on Disarmament a s the Soviet Union had requested SALT The Secretary stressed our determination to press ahead and took note of the most recent Soviets steps at Geneva Dobrynin said they were trying to clear away the underbrush The Secretary told Dobrynin we would soon be communicating with the soviet Union on the Backfire problem and stressed its importance Dobrynin expressed the view that only small differences exist between the numbers of strateg ic force s given by the Soviet side and the US estimates bearing on the launching pad test sites The Secretary said that so far as he knew there was no major disagreement on this point and pointed out that the Administration had soug ht to correct a press story that had said that two additional soviet nuclear subs had been permitted We had pointed out that these had not yet had sea trials and there had been no action con rary to the Interim Agreement SECRET NOD IS DECLASSIFIED Authority t q qD 7