Talks On Berlin In Deadlock

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29766, 8 March 1962, Page 15

Talks On Berlin In Deadlock

(N.Z .PA.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, March 7.

The Moscow talks on Berlin between the United States Ambassador (Mr Llewellyn Thompson) and the Soviet Foreign Minister (Mr Gromyko) have reached complete deadlock, United States official sources reported last night.

The attempt to find a basis for negotiations would now be transferred to the foreign minister level in Geneva next week, the sources said. The Secretary of State (Mr Rusk) will confer there with Mr Gromyko on a bilateral basis. Both would be in Geneva for the disarmament conference.

Before going into talks with Mr Gromyko, however, Mr Rusk would confer in Switzerland with the West German Foreign Minister, Mr Gerhard Schroeder. The latest meeting between Mr Thompson and Mr Gromyko took place yesterday and resulted in absolutely no progress, officials said.

The diplomatic “probe” on behalf of the West was begun by Mr Thompson in January and, according to one official: “We haven’t even got to first base.” Officials said the atmosphere at the talks, in spite of the lack of progress, had been “gentlemanly” throughout. But neither side has been able to persuade the other to budge from previously-held positions. Mr Thompson was said to have concentrated on the question of Allied access to West Berlin as the first thing to be tackled. Mr Gromyko, on the other hand, had been trying to persuade the United

States to discuss broader issues. It was said to have been evident, however, from the first or second meeting that the talks were not going to achieve any positive result. In the course of the talks, officials reported that the Soviet Foreign Minister had, on occasion, said his Government might have to go ahead with the signing of a peace treaty with East Germany unless the United States was prepared to shift its position. But they added that there was no evidence of any undue resumption of pressure by the Soviet Union. Diplomats agreed, however, that the threat of an imminent peace treaty could be revived if Moscow wanted to try to force possible concessions from the West. Officials said the RuskGromyko exchanges might indicate whether the Soviet Union really had anything interesting to talk about or suggest.