Word: brandts
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...timing of Leonid Brezhnev's historic five-day visit this week to Bonn, the first ever by a Soviet leader to West Germany. In the Russian view, the improving relations between Moscow and Bonn can only be further improved by Brezhnev's talks with Chancellor Willy Brandt. More important, perhaps, the Soviets feel that the time is ripe to extract increased practical benefits from the growing climate of detente...
...significance of a Soviet leader's setting foot on West German soil is not lost on Bonn, of course. The visit will symbolize the rapprochement, if not yet the reconciliation, between two of the bitterest enemies of World War II. It will also represent another diplomatic trophy for Brandt in his pursuit of Ostpolitik...
West Germany is not reluctant to do business with the Soviet Union-or with virtually anyone else, for that matter. Brandt, however, has more on his mind than expanding trade relations. He would like the Russians to agree that West Germany can automatically negotiate agreements on behalf of West Berlin, which Bonn insists is part of the Federal Republic and which the Soviets maintain is a separate political entity. Brandt also wants West Germany to represent West Berlin at the United Nations. On relations with East Germany, the Chancellor hopes that Brezhnev can spur some action on the agreements that...
...Brandt, in fact, will urge Brezhnev to facilitate a freer flow of people, ideas and information throughout Europe. The West German leader regards a Soviet concession on this issue, which would unquestionably influence the attitudes of other East bloc nations, as essential to the success of the European Security Conference in Helsinki. The Russians view the conference as a sort of World War II wrapup, affirming the "inviolability" of all borders that were redrawn to Soviet advantage at war's end. They have shown little interest in Brandt's broader aims, fearing that Communist ideology may be "contaminated...
...Brandt and Brezhnev have met twice before: in Moscow in 1970 and in the Crimea in 1971. Indications are that both men respect each other. "When I first met Brezhnev," Brandt once recalled, "he carried his briefing book in front of him. When we discussed the Middle East, he turned to that section and read a statement. When we discussed Berlin, he did the same. When I went back a few months later, there was no briefing book. Brezhnev knew what he wanted to say on all subjects and said it. He's a fast learner...