President Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev agreed on SALT II but an little else at their summit meetings in Vienna over the post four days, including the. Middle East and Soviet emigration policy, according to information received here. While no movement of significance towards agreement between the superpowers was expected on the Middle East in view of Soviet opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli treaty and the Camp David accords, the Soviets were seen as having rejected even the proposal that the United Nations monitor the Sinai when Israeli military forces withdraw in accordance with the Camp David framework. If the UN does not supply the force, the U.S. is committed to arrange for military units to patrol the area.
Embittered by the Egyptian, Israeli and American activities in the peace process the Soviet Union is supportive of Arab "rejectionists" including the Palestine Liberation Organization, that seek to undermine the accords and thwart Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s peace efforts. Whether President Carter was successful in obtaining "assurances" from President Brezhnev on improved emigration policy also seemed negative.
Preliminary reports from Vienna give no sign of Soviet relaxation. President Carter is understood to have been prepared to ask Congress for a waiver of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment’s restrictions on U.S. trade benefits for the Soviet Union if Brezhnev agreed to provide assurances on emigration. The Brezhnev entourage is stiffly unyielding. Soviet spokesman Leonid Zamayatin discouraged speculation in Vienna today that Soviet dissident Anatoly Shcharansky might be released from prison soon.
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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.
