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Soviet Union [USSR] Denuclearization of Europe
Since the 1950s, Soviet leaders have sought complete removal of
nuclear weapons from Western Europe. Stripping Europe of nuclear
weapons not only would reduce the nuclear threat on the Soviet
periphery but also would make easier a Soviet conventional
offensive in Europe. In l988, even before the INF agreement had
been ratified by the United States Senate, Soviet spokesmen were
advocating removal of all nuclear weapons from Europe. They
especially focused on NATO's tactical nuclear weapons arsenal,
deployed mainly in the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
In late l987, Foreign Minister Shevardnadze asserted that on
INF agreement was a step toward denuclearization and that its
signing proved that "the Soviet Union and the United States have
finally spoken together the first word in a nuclear-free
vocabulary." Soviet and Soviet-sponsored denuclearization
initiatives in Europe have included several proposals for a
nuclear-weapon-free corridor in Central Europe (submitted between
1956 and 1987 by the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, and
Czechoslovakia), as well as for nuclear-weapon-free zones in
Northern Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. If such zones
were established, the United States and NATO would have to withdraw
nuclear weapons not only from Europe but also from the surrounding
seas.
Data as of May 1989
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