NEWS BRIEFING Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Public Affairs Joint News Conference with U S Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney Soviet Minister of Defense Dmit riy T Yazov At the Pentagon Friday October 6 1989 - 1 30 p m Secretary Cheney Ladies and Gentlemen the purpose of our gathering this afternoon of course is to spend a few minutes in a press briefing with General Yazov the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union and myself We will each make s t atements and then take questions We have provided for translation At the con clusion of our joint press conference because I understand there are a number of other questions of some interest to the press these days once our guest has departed I'll be happy to stay and take questions on other topics But I would ask you for this first segment with the two of us to focus specifically upon the General's visit U S -Soviet relations As I say I'll make myself available to you once he's completed to answer other questions I won't recount all of the events that we participated in this week We spent a good deal of time together on Monday and Tuesday and since then General Yazov has be en traveling the country I will simply say that I've been very pleased with this series of meetings I think the military-to-military cont ac t between the United St ates military officials at the Secretarial level and at the senior officer level have been very productive We discussed a wide range of issues affecting the military relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and had the opportunity I think to mutually enhance our understanding of one another's security requirements I hope Minister Yazov and his colleagues enjoyed the visit as much as we enjoyed serving as their host Minister Yazov Thank you Ladies and Gen tl emen first of all I would like to tell you that my mee ti ngs and conversat i ons with the U S President George Bush and the U S Secretary of Defense Mr Cheney made the major content of my work here The primary thought of our conversation was devoted to how to bulid friendship develop mutual understanding and increase our relationships in other ways be t ween our two militaries and be t ween our two nations It is impossible to build up trust without looking at each other without meeting with each other and wi t hout talking to each other It is· only as a re sult of regular conferen ces and meetings that we managed to reach agreement on t he INF Treaty The talks between the Foreign Minister of the Sovi et Union Eduard Shevardnadze and the Secretary of Sta t e Baker gave MORE 2 a significant push to the ongoing talks on START and on conventional forces in Europe This vis it of ours which is going on now is a continuation of the meetings between our two sides and it provides for promoting understanding It helps our nations understand each other better Of course it is essential today that the representatives of our two militaries meet with each other should be engaged in frequen t exchanges and should become more open towards each other Last year the Secretary of Defense went on a visit to the Soviet Union Earlier this year the Chairman of the JCS Admiral Crowe visited the Soviet Union We did our best to show the American military delegation that we are prepared to carry on the dialogue with the United States in order to strengthen relationships and friendships Based on the atmosphere of openness and glastnost thanks to Secretary Cheney this program of the tour of the United States was drawn up and we completed it We v i sited the state of California We visited San Diego We were hosted by Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Jeremiah as well as we were hosted by Vice Admiral Kihune We saw a very interesting exercise there observed how the U S Marines are being trained Then we proceeded to visit the Luke Air Force Base in the state of Arizona At that base the U S Air Force pilots showed very high training standards flying the modern F-16 aircraft That was an unforgettable show What's more we were allowed to see all of the military hardware which is now in service with the U S Air Force Yesterday afternoon we arrived at Fort Bragg in the state of North Carolina LTG Steiner this morning staged an exer ci se with an element of the famous 82nd Airborne Division We know this divis i on when we recall the years of the 2nd World War when that division took par t in the Normandy invasion operation We were greatly satisfied by the way the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne operated by t he way they handled their standard equipment and weapons and the tactics they employed and the power they showed struck us immensely I believe exchanges like these between both of our sides contribute to bu i lding up our mutual understanding and we agreed with Secretary Cheney that an additional plan of mutual exchanges would be drawn up for the year of 1990 Those exchanges would allow us to have more and more representatives of our two militaries involved in the process of meeting with each other I would like to tell you Ladies and Gentlemen that it is with great pleasure that we are extending our invi tation to the Secretary of Defense of the United States Mr Cheney to go on a visit to the Soviet Union at an acceptable time We have a good saying in the Sovi e t Union that a debt is to be repaid We will do all our best in order to prepare a similar ki nd of an exercise with the partic i pation of the Soviet forces and we are going to plan some other functio s and measure s in order to show them to the U S military delegation when it comes to the Sovie t Union You probably wi ll ask your question about what struck me most during my tour of the United Sta t es and I think what I was impressed by most of all I would like to give you a s i ngle word answe r Soldiers Soldiers that ev i den tly are dedicated young men that have high proficiency in order to carry out their We 3 duties and functions and that took pride in demonstrating their high training standards to the Soviet military delegation And we 're grateful to all of them that did their best in order to successfully complete the instructions they received and showed what they did to our delegation I am concluding my remarks at this point so that you will have more time to ask me questions Q Wha t is the B-2 bomber threat How do you perceive it What would it cost you to upgrade your air defense in order to deal with it Min Yazov We do not consider it to be a challenge on the part of the United States with regard to the Soviet Union You are asking me a question about the B-2 bomber right We do not consider it to be a challenge You keep perfecting your military hardware We also keep perfecting our military weapon systems I think in this particular context it is not the bomber that should go to the foreground It is the atmosphere of trust that should be placed in the foreground We do not believe and we hope that you would not use these planes attacking the Soviet Union so that we would not be forced to bring them down Let me ask you a question Are you serious about believing that the Sov i et Union is preparing to go to war with the United States Laughter Q You say the B-2 bomber is not a challenge ls the B-2 bomber a threat And how much will it cost to upgrade your air defenses A We don't have to modify the Soviet air defense system The Soviet air defenses have the capability today to bring down any aircraft I would like to underscore again that you might have any type of an air defense system and the adversa ry can have the capability to penetrate that a i r defense system So the question is at what expense the air defense system can be penetrated So I don't believe you are going to undertake an operation to pene tr ate the Soviet air defense system and we are not going to kill the aircraft that tries to penetrate the air defense system Some of the people believe that as long as a new weapon system comes out it is always t o be regarded as a new threat Why Q Mr Minister a few days ago the Pentagon released its annual report on Soviet milit ary power Although it acknowledged many important reforms in the Soviet military the report said that the Soviet strategic nuclear arsenal is more fearsome today than it was four years ago Your hos t has argued before Congress hat we need to buil d a mobile MX and a small mobile missile to counter your new systems that are called here the SS-24 and SS-25 I'd like you please to respond to these things A I would like to say the following The Soviet armed forces have not been increased in terms of numbers The situation is that certain types of systems have become obsolete in their service life periods and now are being replaced by other systems Besides the technology has been making progress and somewhat modified weapon systems have been created and developed The new modern weapon systems are now replacing the obsolete weapon systems We do not say that those are weak weapon systems That is why the Soviet proposal still stands that the bilateral negotiations on a 50 percent cut of strategic offen s ive arms would be continued Even if after we have concluded agreements on a 50 percent cu t of stra tegi c offensive arms wha t remains within the inventories for each 6f t he sides will be enough in order to anihilate each other s that our objec tive MORE 4• So I believe the work on concluding a 50 percent agreement is the first task which is to be followed by more agreements in order to bring about the complete elimination of nuclear weapons As long as we have nuclear weapons people on this earth will not be peacefully sleeping will not be living in peace As far as the booklet goes I have leafed through the booklet The latest edition of Soviet Military Power has been edited somewh t differently than in the pas t Of course it doesn't write that the Soviet Union is a friend of the United St ates but it doesn't write either that the Soviet pnion is an enemy of the United Sta t es Q Mr Minister the St rategic Defense Initiative SDI has decreased in emphasis in this country or appears to be The Sovie t Union has considered it a threat in the past and has tried to negotiate it away Do you still consider the American Strategic Defense Initiative a threat Would you still like to see it go away A Could you answer the question I would like to pose to you Are you aware of what SDI actually is Could you explain to me what SDI is What is it Laughter Q If I could explain it to you then I could trade places with you Laughter Apparently your government considers it enough of a threat or enough of an issue that they have tried repeatedly to negotiate it away Apparently they knew what they were trying to negotiate away Could you discuss it in those terms A Yes I can explain it to you As long as we are talking now on reducing strategic offensive arms evidently the final objective of this negotiating process is the anihilation of nuclear inventories of the sides As long as our final objective in terms of nuclear weapons is complete anihilation of nuclear weapons what will SDI have as objectives It wouldn't have any objectives to be directed inaudible We believe in the past and we believe now that the attempt to develop and create SDI is an attempt to encourage another cycle of the arms race to involve the Soviet Union into the arms race What explicitly the Sov i et Union declared that we are against spreading th e race into outer space and that we in the Soviet Un ion do not intend to create any similar SDI space-based weapon systems So far the SDI project does not have any specific limits to it If we continue to confirm or persist that the American SDI is threatening the Soviet Union then the nego tiating process would be hampered greatly It would be impossible to reach agreemen ts on START So we decided not to make the SDI an absolute pr econdition which would hamper the process in this regard And also that the SDI is something hypothetic al and nothing prac ti cal Q Mr Minister how does the concept of parastroyka apply to the Sovie t military Wha t change s have taken place What changes can we expect Would it be normal t o expect that the Defense Mi nister would be a civilian under parastroyka A It is difficult for me to answer this question explicitly I mean when you have in mind whether we are going to have a civ ilian Minister of Defense in the years ahead start i ng from the years of the old Russia t he kussia of Kiev the military power has always been led by a military man --the MORE n that were knowledgable in the field of ta ti s and strategy Inaudible in the Soviet Union the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union inaudible otherwise and might deride to have a civilian person as head of the Department of Defense in the Soviet Union Th is is not a question of prin iple I believe Whoever is going to be appointed will have to face the responsibility of heading the military of defense I don't believe that a Minister of Defense would have inaudible to drop from a plane with a parachute The Minister of Defense is more of a politfral analyst and a politician But o_n the other hand it is difficult to separate perfectly the military affairs from the political affairs As far as the question of how the Soviet military are referring to the parastroyka going on in the Soviet Unio n we all are supporting the renewal processes in our society The renewal in the Soviet military is not as noticeable as it is noticeable in the national economy We are trying to put more democracy more inaudible in the relationships among inaudible We are supporting more and more openness in the relations among the military You understand that parastroy ka was not comprised of inaudible Parastroyka was intended to bring about a renewal of the relations in the Soviet society as a whole And you must understand the renewal processes have touched upon the ways of the military in our armed forces I want to give you one example Among the Deputies of the new Supreme Soviet there are 93 military officers We have there a military cadet inaudible almost any military grade you name it Inaudible on his own initiative for the Office of the Deputy and was supported by inaudible constituency The opposing member who was a general officer was defeated in the election campaign So inaudible armed forces At the latest session of the Supreme Soviet there were lieutenant colonels that voted against the proposal of the Minister f Defense of the Soviet Unio n Inaudible of the Minister of Defense So these are the rights enjoyed by all the citizens of our society So to a certain extent the parastroyka processes have already been practiced in the armed forces of the USSR Secretary Cheney If I may Ladies and Gentlemen in light of the hour thank the Defense Minister for his remarks I would like to at this point say that I accept his kind invitation to visit the Soviet Union on a date to be determined A d I look forward to having the opportuni ty to return the visit the historic firs t visit ever by the Soviet Defense Minister to the United States T ha -11 you Minister Yazov Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen and goodbye END