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.
“The Pentagon”2 pages
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Document 2 of 2 AGAL Concatenated Database world peace. 235. Gennadiy Gerasimov, Novosti deputy chairman (Soviet television, 28 Nov 82) 236. The events of the last weeks in Moscow, by the very nature of things, have caused a certain pause in international relations. The world has been watching Moscow to see what will happen and, in its turn, Moscow has been watching the world attentively, too. American Senator Robert Dole, a prominent figure in the Republican Party--Reagan's party--has been in Moscow during these days. He stated that he observes an advancement by the Reagan Administration toward a new beginning--that is how he expressed himself. Some observers have begun cautiously seeking signs of a thaw, even a weak one, in American-Soviet relations. 237. Arbatov, speech to U.S. trade delegation (LITERATURNAYA GAZETA, 8 Dec 82) 238. In the last few days many people's hopes regarding the prospects of Soviet-American relations have revived. The dramatic nature of the moment, when events are prompting reflection on the most serious problems perturbing people, may even have helped in a way. . . . 239. Something seems to be beginning to change for the better. Something has happened and something positive too. I think it is a good thing that ASTEC has met. It seems to me that it is an important event and shows that many Americans (and Soviet people, too, of course) understand the fundamental interests of their countries and "gas for pipes" deal. We assessed positively the American leaders' expression of condolences on the death of Leonid Ilich Brezhnev and the fact that the U.S. President personally visited the Soviet Embassy and sent the U.S. vice president and secretary of state to Moscow. We have carefully followed the words spoken in this connection, and the positive [khoroshiye] words we have greeted positively. 240. But if I were asked if I could assess these facts as evidence of the abandonment by the United States of a policy that in our country--I must be frank with you--is seen as a policy of cold war and as a course of a headlong arms race and of unbounded--mortal, as the saying goes--enmity? [sentence as published] Or is what has happened in the last few days merely a maneuver aimed at reassuring the public at large and the allies so that they do not prevent this policy of total enmity from being pursued in the future? If I were asked those questions, I would honestly say that as yet I have no answer.
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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.