Moscow: U.S. move ‘mere tactics'

Press, 10 April 1978, Page 8

Moscow: U.S. move ‘mere tactics'

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Kremlin yesterday dismissed President Jimmy Carter’s decision to postpone stockpiling the neutron bomb as mere tactics, dampening United States hopes I that it would lead Moscow to slash its own nuclear arms plans. Tass news agency said that Mr Carter was trying to link renouncing the neutron bomb with exacting cuts in “Russian defence facilities.” But his statement that he would shelve it — while reserving the option to manufacture it later — “did not represent a significant renunciation of the neutron bomb.” Mr Carter, Tass said, simply wanted to create a climate of opinion in Western Europe favourable to the neutron bomb’s being deployed at a later date. The Tass comment was the first reaction of Moscow, to Mr Carter's decision, which was portrayed by the Americans as a challenge to the Kremlin to restrain its deployment of new weapons, such as the SS2O mobile nuclear missile.