Protocol of the extraordinary meeting of the Committee of Ministers for Defense from the Warsaw Treaty member states

Highly Confidential!

Protocol of the extraordinary meeting of the Committee of Ministers for Defense from the
Warsaw Treaty member states


Berlin
20 October 1983

[...] [list of participants]

In the spirit of the Prague Political Declaration from 5 January 1983, and the Joint Declaration by the highest representatives of party and state from seven socialist states on 28 June 1983, the Committee of Ministers for Defense discussed the situation resulting from the deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in some Western European countries.
[...]

In light of the U.S. and NATO's strive for military superiority over the Warsaw Treaty countries, and the large-scale preparation for a war against the socialist community, [...], the Committee of Ministers for Defense deems it appropriate to apply respective countermeasures in case of a deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe; in order not to tolerate NATO military superiority and maintain a balance of forces in the interest of peace, and to guarantee the security of the allied countries.

The Committee of the Ministers of Defense decides:

1. Defense Ministries and Unified Command have to comply timely and completely with all measures outlined in protocols concerning the development of armies and naval forces under the Unified Command for the period between 1981 and 1985.
Measures are to be implemented until 1985 in order to increase combat potential of armies and fleets through further perfection of combat readiness and combat strength, as well as through equipment with more modern and perfect (modernized) armaments and battle technology.

2. Together with the Ministries for Defense, the Unified Command will have to work out measures to increase the command capacities of the Unified Forces and realize those between 1983 and 1985.

3. Further planning for development of army and naval units serving within the Unified Forces in the next five years (1986-1990) must include practical measures in light of the potential deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe, as well as qualitative and quantitative changes of weapons for armed combat.

The Minister for National Defense of the Socialist Republic of Romania (SRR), Colonel General C. O l t e a n u, expressed his following own opinion on the decision made by the Committee of Ministers of Defense:

- delete from the first paragraph "situation resulting from the deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in some Western European countries";

- delete from the fourth paragraph the following: "respective countermeasures in case of a deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe";

- add to the second bullet point of the decision: "which were laid out in the documents agreed"

- delete from the third bullet point: "the potential deployment of new American medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe"

These proposals for modifications were outlined by Colonel General C. O l t e a n u during the meeting. All other members of the Committee of Ministers for Defense expressed their non-approval of these proposals by the delegation of the army from the SRR, as they stood in contradiction to the meeting's agenda. In their respective statements they criticized the Romanian proposal.

The meeting of the Committee of Ministers of Defense was conducted in a functional atmosphere, and in the spirit of friendship and mutual agreement.

[...] [signatures, including SRR]