Gromyko visits the other side

Press, 21 January 1983, Page 6

Gromyko visits the other side

NZPA-Reuter East Berlin The Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, was due to brief East Germany’s leader today on the outcome of his talks in Bonn, with the threat of a new chill in East-West German relations. Mr Gromyko’s .three days of talks in Bonn centred on the proposed imminent deployment of United States medium-range nuclear missiles in West Germany and appeared to have brought little progress for Moscow, which wants the plans cancelled. Western diplomats in East Berlin see Mr Gromyko's immediate arrival as reinforcing warnings to Bonn that relations with East Germany could suffer if the deployment goes ahead.

The East German Communist Party leader, Erich Honecker, and the late Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev had given a clear hint that relations between the two German States could suffer as a result of the missiles when they met in the Crimea last (northern) summer. Bonn, Particularly with a March General Election in the offing, is anxious for some movement on human rights issues from East Berlin, notably a reduction in the minimum amount of cash Western visitors must exchange for each day of their stay there. Mr Gromyko is scheduled to spend three days in East Berlin, an unusually long visit, and will have extensive talks with Mr Honecker and other senior East German politicians.