Diplomacy: Nothing Personal, But . . .

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Strong words about missiles as Kohl goes to Moscow

The Soviet Union used to be able to count on the single-minded eagerness of West Germany's Social Democratic leaders to pursue a policy of détente with their Communist neighbors to the east. No longer. The Soviets got a close look last week at Bonn's first Christian Democratic Chancellor after 13 years of Social Democratic rule, and they did not entirely like what they saw. Helmut Kohl's 48-hour visit to Moscow turned out to be a bruising diplomatic skirmish that started badly and ended, as Kohl fully expected, in a standoff. Under a barrage of Soviet threats, Chancellor Kohl stood firm on the one issue that dominated his talks with Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov: West Germany's determination to abide by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization decision to begin deploying U.S. Pershing II and cruise missiles in December if no progress is achieved in the talks on intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Geneva.

Kohl's exchanges with Andropov were not a waste of time. While his Social Democratic predecessors in office, Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, often saw themselves as intermediaries between the Kremlin and the West, Kohl repeatedly ruled out any such role for himself. He was going to Moscow, he said, "not as a mediator or interpreter but to represent German interests."

Nonetheless, Kohl made his trip, with Ronald Reagan's blessing in the form of a message from the President saying, "I have been impressed by the seriousness with which you are approaching these important discussions." Before his departure, Kohl was briefed on the American negotiating position in Geneva by Vice President George Bush and other U.S. officials. In one respect, Kohl did in fact act as a Soviet-American mediator: he urged Andropov to agree to a summit meeting with Reagan. The Soviets repeated their agreement to such a get-together on condition that it be well prepared and not merely a propaganda exercise.

Talk of a reunited Germany has always frightened the Soviets, but that did not deter Kohl from raising the subject forthrightly. He defended the right of Germans to think about the peaceful reunification of West Germany and its Soviet-dominated counterpart in the future. "I told Mr. Andropov: 'What would you say as a Soviet patriot if Moscow were divided, if the Soviet Union were divided?' " Kohl reported. He also asked that the Soviet Union grant exit visas to an estimated 100,000 ethnic Germans who seek to emigrate to West Germany. In addition, Kohl risked offending his hosts by speaking up on behalf of Soviet Dissident Andrei Sakharov, currently the victim of a government slander campaign in the Soviet press.