BUSH WELCOMES SOVIET ARMS OFFER
| WASHINGTON
United States President George Bush welcomed new arms reduction proposals offered by the Soviets. Moving to reverse a stream of negative White House reaction to other Soviet arms control positions, Mr. Bush Wednesday revised a speech to include an upbeat assessment of the new Moscow offer.
The Soviets agreed to impose ceilings on Soviet forces stationed in East European countries.
In a parallel move, the Soviets suggested that no country be allowed to have more than 35 to 40 percent of the combined manpower totals of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
This would in effect dilute the forces of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.
The twin moves meet long-standing US demands designed to reduce the Warsaw Pact edge over NATO in non-nuclear strength.
