Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday the Soviet Union would keep its troops in eastern Germany and would review its policies on European arms control and security negotiations if a reunited Germany joined NATO.
The Soviet president's remarks were the Kremlin's most dire warning yet about what steps it would take if a reunited Germany joins the Western military alliance.He repeated the Soviet preference Friday that Germany belong to both NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The Bush administration favors NATO membership for a united Germany.
Gorbachev also suggested Friday that a reunited Germany could follow France's lead and take part only in NATO political activities.
He told a news conference Western leaders seem to assume a unified Germany would join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, though the German people should be allowed to decide the issue. He said Moscow was wary of that prospect.
"What should we do then about all the negotiating processes, including the European process, the CSCE process, the Vienna disarmament process? Then we must take a fresh look at whether we should pursue the same policy, whether we should base it on the same approaches," Gorbachev said.
His warning came six days before he discusses German reunification with President Bush in Washington. It amounted to a new Kremlin bargaining chip, a message that the West would pay a high price for German NATO membership.
The superpowers are involved in negotiations on reducing their nuclear and conventional forces and hope to reach some agreements during the summit. CSCE refers to the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which deals with military security, economic cooperation and human rights.
U.S. officials in Washington said Gorbachev made a similar warning to Secretary of State James A. Baker III during their talks last week in Moscow.
Soviet negotiators still will hold talks Saturday at the State Department to try to wrap up major unsettled issues in a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The aim is to expand on a declaration ready for Bush and Gorbachev to sign during their May 30-June 3 summit.
Gorbachev denied he was trying to force the West's hand. He told reporters he issued the warning "not to try to scare any of you so that you would begin to reflect right away what kind of trump card is being prepared by the Soviet Union," but to appeal for a joint search for "the right solutions, (so) that we not weaken the positive processes in international relations."