clarinews@clarinet.com (01/19/90)
(VIENNA) Hungary announced today it has asked the Soviet Union to withdraw all 50,000 to 60,000 Soviet troops from its territory by the end of next year. Formal negotiations with the Soviet Union concerning a timetable for withdrawal will begin ``within the next few days,'' a senior Hungarian foreign ministry official said in Vienna. The Hungarian schedule has not been accepted by the Kremlin, he indicated. ``There is no political or military reason which would justify foreign troops being stationed in our country,'' Ferenc Somogyi, state secretary for the Hungarian foreign ministry, told reporters after briefing NATO and Warsaw Pact disarmament negotiators about his government's demand. In a related development that raises questions about the Warsaw Pact's future, Hungary -- for the first time in the 35-year history of the East Bloc military alliance -- unveiled a disarmament proposal without informing the Soviets or seeking their permission. Western diplomats said Poland's representative to the Vienna meeting applauded Hungary's unilateral action. Hungary's plan calls for deep cuts in NATO and Warsaw Pact armed forces and equipment levels in Europe that go well beyond those currently being negotiated in Vienna by the 23 members of the two alliances, including Canada. U.S. officials estimate that a limit of 275,000 troops each for the United States and the Soviet Union in Europe -- NATO's negotiating stance -- would require cuts of about 30,000 troops by the U.S. and 325,000 by the Soviets. Western diplomatic sources said Soviet officials are sure to be angered by the manner, if not the substance also, of the Hungarian proposal. But Somogyi said his government saw no reason for advising the Soviet Union beforehand about its announcement. ``We don't think that our membership in the Warsaw Pact presents limits in any way on our freedom to act in the international arena,'' said Somogyi. He added that it is only reasonable that any Warsaw Pact country can now do what it wants in proposing policies, rather than first seeking the Kremlin's ``rubber stamp'' approval. Meanwhile, a 35-per-cent reduction in Hungary's own armed forces, announced in December, will be completed by the end of 1991, Somogyi said. The 105,000-member Hungarian People's Army is already the smallest of any Warsaw Pact country. The cuts are aimed at producing a modernized military force of an unquestionably defensive character, he said. A principal goal of the program will be ``significant cuts in weapons systems which are specifically capable of offensive action, and in military organizations serving similar purposes.'' As to Hungary's timetable for removal of Soviet forces from its soil -- these include at least four infantry divisions and an army air corps whose 300 aircraft more than double those of Hungary's own air force -- Somogyi said he did not know how willing the Soviets are to co-operate. ``The stereotype nightmares of the Cold War are fading away. Nowadays it would be extremely difficult to identify which European nation would consider the other a potential military adversary,'' said Somogyi. ``We are not alone in pronouncing our conviction that at present Hungary is not endangered by any kind of military threat.'' Somogyi sidestepped journalists' questions as to whether today's action signals a possible future withdrawal by Hungary from its military alliance with the Soviet Union. ``One wants to get rid of this traditional block approach of the Warsaw Pact,'' he said. But Somogyi's remarks appeared to point the way to an Austrian or Finnish-style model of armed neutrality and diversified international relationships. That rules out an overly close link with the capitalist West that could leave Hungary in trouble, in geopolitical terms, he said. ``We don't want to make the same mistake we made before -- to be one-sided again,'' he said. hewitt/southam news