USSR gives new warnings against NATO missile plan

NATO's planned deployment of nuclear missiles in Europe drew two more threatening responses from the Soviet Union. During a visit to East Germany, Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov said the Soviet Union would retaliate directly against US territory if it was attacked with European-based cruise and Pershing II missiles. He also warned that a Soviet retaliatory strike against West European countries would wipe out the military capability of most of those countries, the official Soviet news agency Tass reported.

In Moscow, the commander in chief of the Warsaw Pact said the Eastern bloc would spare no effort to match NATO missile for missile in Europe. Writing in the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, Soviet Marshal Viktor Kulikov said the NATO missile deployment would undermine international stability.