Deliberations between Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin and Communist Party leader Nikita Khrushchev, on one hand, and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd, on the other hand, started here today at No. 10 Downing Street with the Arab-Israel question looming large on the agenda.
Although the talks are conducted in secrecy, diplomatic observers here said today they expected the Soviet leaders to suggest that the USSR join the Western “Big Three” in seeking to establish peace in the Middle East. They were also expected to couple their offer with a proposal for a Middle East conference of the “Big Four” plus the interested parties.
These same circles believed that Sir Anthony would reject the Soviet proposals, although welcoming the Moscow offer to support United Nations peace efforts in the Middle East. It is anticipated that he would press the Russians for proof of sincerity such as halting their arms supplies to the Arab states and by dropping anti-British agitation in the Arab world.
In Commons, meanwhile, Minister of State Anthony Nutting undertook to convey to Sir Anthony a request by Labor MP Alfred Robens that the Soviet leaders be asked to hold up turning over two submarines to Egypt which were promised in the Czech arms deal but have not yet been delivered.
Labor leader Hugh Gaitskell told Mr. Nutting that his party would take a “dim view” of the Anglo-Soviet talks “unless we can be satisfied that in the course of them will be raised the whole question of arms to the Middle East by Russia, as well as this country.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
