ABSTRACT
Conventional arms control in Europe emerged as a Soviet foreign policy priority in 1986 with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's April 18 speech in East Berlin and the Warsaw Pact's June 11 Budapest appeal. In East Berlin, the Soviet leader proposed agreement on "substantial reductions in all the components of the land forces and tactical air forces of the European states and the relevant forces of the U.S.A. and Canada deployed in Europe." He also suggested that the proposed reductions "cover the entire European territory from the Atlantic to the Urals," that strict verification measures be adopted, and that "operational-tactical" nuclear weapons be reduced as well. 1
