Andropov repeats offers on missiles, launchers

September 21, 1983

President Yuri Andropov, ending a 24-day public silence, repeated Soviet offers to freeze the development, testing, and deployment of nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles.

Mr. Andropov's statement came in response to members of the West German Bundestag who had appealed to members of the Soviet legislature to help end the arms race. Western analysts noted that he broke his public silence by commenting on the Euromissile issue rather than the South Korean plane incident.