- Reykjavík Summit
The Reykjavik Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. president
Ronald Reagan and Soviet premierMikhail Gorbachev , held in the famous house ofHöfði inReykjavík , the capital city ofIceland , on11 October -12,1986 . The talks collapsed at the last minute, but the progress that had been achieved eventually resulted in the 1987Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between theUnited States and theSoviet Union .In 1986 Reagan had proposed banning all
ballistic missiles , but wanted to continue research on theStrategic Defense Initiative (SDI) that could potentially be shared with the Soviets. Yet Soviet suspicion of SDI continued, and U.S.-Soviet relations — already strained by the failure of the the previous year — were further strained by the Daniloff-Zakharovespionage affair.At Reykjavik, Reagan sought to include discussion of
human rights , emigration of Soviet Jews anddissident s, and theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan . However, Gorbachev sought to limit the talks solely toarms control . In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Soviets accepted in principle the "double-zero" proposal for eliminating INF weapons from Europe (INF denoting "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces" as distinct from ICBMs, orintercontinental ballistic missile s). The Russians also proposed a complete ballistic missile ban by 1996. The U.S. countered with a proposal to eliminate 50 percent of ballistic missiles: once the controversialStrategic Defense Initiative (SDI) had been tested and shared, the remainder could be eliminated.The negotiations failed because of Gorbachev's insistence on linking the SDI program to any agreement on eliminating INF missiles in Europe and reducing NATO tactical nuclear weapons and Warsaw Pact conventional forces, and because of Reagan and the American delegation's refusal to negotiate over SDI research. The meeting adjourned with no agreement. Nevertheless, participants and observers have referred to the summit as an enormous breakthrough which eventually facilitated the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty), signed in Washington on
December 8 ,1987 .References
External links
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB203/index.htm These previously secret documents] from the U.S and Soviet archives were added to the
National Security Archive ofGeorge Washington University in October 2006.
* [http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_95.html Reykjavik Summit: The Legacy and a Lesson for the Future] . By Dr. Nikolai Sokov at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. December 2007.
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