Teimuraz Stepanov-Mamaladze Diary 12 February 1990 The ministerial part of the conference on the open skies regime The poster of the conference-- village country sky with bucolic sheep shapes of clouds A very deep symbol of openness But judging by everything the conference will descend from the heavens down to earth specifically the European earth even more specifically--the German soil Before our visit here Kohl and Genscher paid a hasty visit to Moscow And just as hastily--in the opinion of E A --Gorbachev accepted the right of the Germans to unity and self-determination The subject of German unity is not at all a bucolic sheep in the skies of the world For some it is a terrible thunder cloud and for us it is an altogether thick fog on the horizon The conference hall is a train station for many Ideas are like trains they come and go but on single schedule and timetable--the European one Baker Recently I looked into the hole breached in the German Wall Walls are falling everywhere The march of freedom has begun The end of Stalin's concept Security for the Soviet Union means insecurity for others Hurd The Cold War has ended but instead Europe is getting a renaissance of nationalism which so catastrophically exhibited its destructive force in the first and second world wars Dumas Many of the ministers present here were persecuted by overwrought dictatorships Before we had no security without super-armaments Now there will be no security without super-trust Skubiszewski Poland was one of the sources of changes on the continent The word Solidarity acquired an all-European moreover Atlantic meaning Dandy Skubiszewski shows off his knowledge of languages Switches from English into French to impress the French-speaking Canada But he speaks about substance--about guarantees of inviolability of the Oder-Neisse border The Netherlands' Van den Broek remembers not his own memories how in 1955 in Geneva at the conference right before Khruschchev's presentation it started to thunder the electricity shorted and it became pitch-dark This way with jokes and puns everybody talked about Germany Deutschland uber alles and we talked about the open skies But-- we spoke well which was noted by the esteemed Douglas Hurd a minister in unpolished shoes --You have a very informal style I especially liked it about the space where we don't just grow chickens We listen to you and not only get educated but entertained too The conversation was circling about the status of united Germany the lagging behind of the allEuropean process the possible 2 4 mechanism or depending who's proposing 4 2 One more meeting with Skubiszewski who raised issue of Poland's participation in the process mainly from the point of view of formulating guarantees of inviolability of its borders The key meeting of the day was with Baker He proposed to discuss two questions first about the numbers of Soviet and American troops in Europe the issue was raised at the February meeting of the ministers in Moscow which was left outside this diary and the second about managing German unification within the 2 4 framework about which I also told you in Moscow On the first issue they disagreed on numbers in Moscow decided to continue the conversation and so now Baker says --We would like stick to our previous position--to reduce our and your troops in Central Europe to the level of 195 thousands on each side on the condition that U S troops in Europe overall will not exceed 225 thousand Even you withdraw from Eastern Europe you still remain a great power on the continent whereas we if we withdrew beyond the ocean we would lose our influence over European affairs Formula two plus four takes into account interests of all the main players in this game and responds affirmatively to the question of future presence of the Soviet troops in the territory of the present GDR The earlier we announce our agreements the more chances there are to slow down the collapse of the GDR E A said that he needed to think and to consult with Moscow--that the he is not worried about the first issue and the second one does not promise any special hopes but still let us try From this moment the plot of the Ottawa meeting acquired a new development turning into an acute political thriller Source Hoover Institute Archive Stepanov-Mamaladze Collection Translated by Svetlana Savranskaya                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu