Brezhnev will probably meet Reagan, says Soviet

April 12, 1982

A senior Soviet official has told visiting US foreign policy experts he thinks Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev will probably accept President Reagan's proposal for a meeting in June at the UN Conference on Disarmament in New York.

But the 10-member delegation of private citizens from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington said the official, a senior member of the Communist Party's policymaking Central Committee, made it clear no decision had yet been made.

Soviet officials said they thought a meeting could help to develop personal relations between Mr. Brezhnev and Mr. Reagan as a first step toward an easing of tensions. The official Soviet media have made no comment on the invitation.