Message from Moscow

What do Soviet leaders really think about world affairs these days? In recent months, the Kremlin has provided few clues to its attitudes. Last week, though, Soviet Party Chief Leonid Brezhnev used the occasion of a speech to Russia's Trade Unions Congress to spell out the Moscow position on a number of major foreign policy issues. The Brezhnev speech, which ran for 90 minutes, was generally moderate and confident in tone. Major points:

U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS. Brezhnev expects some results from President Nixon's visit to Russia, which is scheduled to begin on May 22. "We approach the coming Soviet-American talks from a businesslike and realistic position," he said. Brezhnev expressed his desire for an agreement in the U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. His statement lent support to speculation that a partial agreement, perhaps banning the installation of ABMs, will be ready for signing by the time of Nixon's visit.

SINO-AMERICAN CONTACTS. Taking presidential rhetoric perhaps too seriously, Brezhnev is worried that the U.S. and China may have made a secret pact that went beyond the bilateral bounds of the Sino-American communique. "How else can one interpret the statement at the Shanghai banquet that 'today our two peoples hold in their hands the fate of the future of the entire world'?" he said. But Brezhnev undoubtedly wants to talk to Nixon about his China trip before jumping to any hasty conclusions. "We are in no hurry with final assessments," he declared.

SOVIET RELATIONS WITH CHINA. Brezhnev said that Moscow was now willing to accept a Chinese proposal that the two countries work out their problems on the basis of "peaceful coexistence." In Communist rhetoric that expression connotes relations between states having different social systems, and it could mean that Moscow despairs of ever healing its ideological rift with China. In his speech, the party chief did not mention that a Soviet negotiating team last week returned to Peking for what could lead to a resumption of the talks about Sino-Soviet border disputes. But he did stress that the responsibility for better relations "is up to the Chinese side now."

RUSSIA AND THE WEST. Brezhnev, who has committed his own prestige to an improvement of relations with Western Europe, did not conceal his anger that West Germany has not yet ratified the treaties of Moscow and Warsaw (TIME, March 20). The treaties, which call for mutual renunciation of force in settling disputes, are central to Soviet hopes of confirming the political status quo on the Continent while keeping the Communist bloc tightly insulated from contacts with the West. Brezhnev threatened that the consequences of a failure by Bonn to approve the treaties would be extremely serious. Said he: "The Federal Republic of Germany is now faced with a choice that will determine the fate of its people and the attitudes of other states toward it for many years to come." He then added an ominous warning: "In the final analysis, it is a choice between a policy of peace and a policy of war."

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