NID: HUNGARY: MOSCOW AGREES TO WITHDRAW ALL TROOPS

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826869
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: February 3, 1990

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826869
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HUNGARY: Moscow Agrees To Withdraw All Troops
The Soviet Union yesterday publicly agreed to withdraw all of
its 50,000 troops in Hungary "within the shortest time possible:'
although it probably will still try to prolong the withdrawal. Soviet
Deputy Foreign Minister Aboimov and Hungarian State Secretary for
Foreign Affairs SOmogyi agreed that the pace of the withdrawal would
be decided in further discussions.
Comnient: Budapest wanted agreement on a Soviet withdrawal before
the 2ti March legislative election to improve the chances of the ruling
Socialist Party. Moscow undoubtedly hopes the announcement will
dampen public enthusiasm for withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact:
two of the more radical political parties opened their election
campaigns by calling for immediate, unilateral withdrawal from
the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets probably will begin these troop
withdrawals soon and portray them as early implementation of a
prospzctive CFE treaty. Moscow is having problems absorbing the
estimated 25,000 troops who returned home in the past year as a
result of unilateral cuts in Eastern Europe and is likely to push for a
gradual withdrawal of its troops in Hungary.
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TCS 2728/90
3 February 1990
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826869