Interviewer
Prime Minister, we have met several times in London at 10 Downing Street and now we are meeting here in my country. How do you feel yourself to be here in Moscow? The Soviet people are very interested to know your comments on the talks you had today with Mr Gorbachev?
Prime Minister
I am very pleased to be in Moscow, lucky to be here on such a lovely day. As you know, the British Ambassador's Residence is opposite the Kremlin and the sun shines on the Kremlin and it looks absolutely beautiful.
We have had very good talks with President Gorbachev. He is in extremely good form, strong, bold, vigorous, determined to carry through this great historic mission to its great conclusion.
We talked about the latest position with regard to perestroika and about the Plenum that he has just held and his hopes for the future. [end p1]
We talked also about the prospects for disarmament and a few bilateral things as well. They were very good talks, as they always are. I have great confidence in what Mr Gorbachev is doing, in his vision, in his courage and in his boldness and in the leadership that he is offering and also in his capacity with international affairs at which he is extremely skilled - greatly to the benefit of the Soviet Union.
Interviewer
There is a feeling in the world that the process of disarmament has become slower. Do you share such an anxiety and are there some encouraging signs of improvement if this is the case?
Prime Minister
I do not think it has got slower, indeed I think during the coming year, 1990, you will find a number of things, at which we have been working hard, coming to fruition. That will be good. I think you may get a START Agreement, that is on the strategic nuclear weapons between the Soviet Union and the United States. It is very very complicated, that is why it is taking a time. I think you will almost certainly get an agreement substantially to reduce conventional weapons in the Soviet Union down to agreed ceilings, that will be very welcome, they are working on that in Vienna, there are one or two problems which Mr Shevardnadze and Mr Baker are now working on in the United States. We are in touch with them and I think the prospects there are good for an agreement next year. [end p2]
The chemical weapons agreement, in which we have been trying to achieve a breakthrough for quite a long time, that is going on in Geneva. Again, the signs are much more hopeful. So I expect you will see quite considerable steps forward during 1990 but those steps forward will come about because of the preliminary work we have been doing and it has been done thoroughly so that those agreements when they are made will stick and that is the important thing.
Interviewer
My next question is a little delicate but I hope for a frank answer. Many experts explain the slowness of international processes by the fact that some Western leaders prefer to wait for the final results of the developments in the Soviet Union, would you agree with this?
Prime Minister
No, I would not. I think everyone knows that the Soviet Union has embarked upon a new course because the old course did not and could not bring the prosperity to the people which they both want and hope will come.
And so you embarked upon a new course, that course is continuous. I think almost everyone I know in the Western world firmly supports it, is firmly behind Mr Gorbachev in his great endeavours. [end p3]
I think you might be a little bit concerned because naturally in newspapers day-by-day they tend to concentrate on the difficulties. The things which are constructive and good are not news. And so if you are not careful you get things out of perspective, they do not report the constant and steady improvements, and improvements there are, there is a new atmosphere in the Soviet Union and in Moscow. So please do not be put off by those reports, just keep your eye on the distant prospect.
Interviewer
How do you see the current and future relationship between Britain and the Soviet Union?
Prime Minister
Very good indeed. Ever since Mr Gorbachev, before he was Secretary General, came to Britain and we started to talk about matters, I thought that there was a basis for the future, a much more optimistic basis for the future and it has come about and spread to the wider world. So I think that we shall steadily go ahead. Internationally I think that the prospects, as I indicated, for more disarmament agreements are good and the number of bilateral visits that go on and greater contacts between people, there are far more people travelling and contacts between people are extremely important. [end p4]
Interviewer
What would you like to say to the Soviet people before your departure?
Prime Minister
Let me say this. The old system that you had for seventy years produced neither personal liberty nor personal prosperity. It could not and so things are now being changed. First came glasnost and that has enabled so much freedom of expression and of speech, so much lively discussion, so much cross-examination of those in power who are accountable to the people. It has done great things already. It will be followed by economic reform. That requires not only the activities of politicians, it requires the willing and active cooperation of all the people. Economic results are a partnership between government and people and require the effort of each and every one and I am sure that will be forthcoming.
On the way to these much better prospects you will find many many difficulties, many obstacles. If you set out to achieve some great endeavour there are always problems. I hope you will not be overcome by them but you will overcome the problems and always look towards the prospects for the future because those prospects of greater prosperity for people within the Soviet Union are within your grasp and we wish you all well and congratulate you on the great glasnost that has already been achieved and look forward to the Soviet Union becoming as well as a great military power a [end p5] great international power, a great and strong economic power.
Interviewer
Thank you very much indeed for this interview. We wish you and your family all the very best and prosperity for the British people.
Prime Minister
Thank you, it is very nice to be with you and to be in Moscow again. I hope to be here again soon. Thank you.