Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency report, dated 3 February 1984, reviews how Soviet leaders, well-connected commentators and routine media treated President Reagan from November 1980 onward. It finds that Moscow twice softened its line: once after the 1980 election and again when Andropov came to power. After the Korean airliner was shot down, Soviet treatment of Reagan became the most abusive in years. Attached excerpts include a Yakovlev article claiming Reagan believes in flying saucers.
“Cooper”9 pages
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## UNCLASSIFIED FOUO Document 2 of 2 AGAL Concatenated Database 195. In fact, what did this Reagan speech of 18 November mean? Does it, to some degree. . . . signify a reassessment of the U.S. position, or . . . is it an attempt to gain a political alibi with respect to the pressures being exerted by America's allies in Europe? As for which of these elements was more evident in the speech, this is an open question both for us and for Europe. We will find out when the talks begin. 196. Nikolay Shishlin, CPSU Central Committee official, Soviet television, 5 December 1981 197. Regarding the fact of an alteration in the U.S. foreign policy course taking place, an alteration in the U.S. foreign policy course beginning to become perceptible--this is true. . . . It seems that in this respect in particular we are right in talking neither of a cosmetic operation nor of a break with past policies, but rather of a certain alteration in course, a certain adaptation of American policies to reality. 198. Bovin, Soviet domestic radio, 20 December 1981 199. One of the main problems for Europe at the moment is the problem of the so-called Eurostrategic weapons. . . . One can view these [INF] talks in different ways. On the one hand, the talks have a specific object--medium-range weapons. But their principal significance is the fact that after a whole year of agitation and alarm and hysterical kinds of statements by Washington, generally speaking things there are quietly beginning to stabilize. 200. TASS report on U.S. sanctions after the imposition of martial law in Poland (PRAVDA, 30 Dec 81) 201. The U.S. Administration has taken a provocative step the purpose of which is to poison the international climate even more, to exacerbate tensions, to worsen confrontation and toughen the militarist foreign policy course. . . . 202. President R. Reagan has published a statement, announcing the introduction of a whole number of unilateral discriminatory measures with regard to the Soviet Union, ranging from a suspension of Aeroflot service to the USA to a review of bilateral Soviet-U.S. agreements in trade and scientific-technical cooperation, agreements signed by the Government of the United States. 203. To justify this crude diktat with regard to a sovereign state unprecedented and absolutely inadmissible in universally accepted international practice, the head of the U.S. Administration has resorted to direct forgery and lies, maintaining that the Soviet Union allegedly "interfered" in Polish affairs and bears "direct
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 36 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.