WASHINGTON (AP) — The
United States and the Soviet
Union Thursday signed an
agreement in principle to lim-
it and possibly reduce their
stockpiles of offensive nuclear
weapons by the end of 1974.

President Nixon and Soviet
Communist leader Leonid I.
Brezhnev raised their cham-
pagne glasses in toasts to suc-
cess at the ceremony in the
White House East Room.

The agreement, the out-
standing accomplishment of
their week-long summit was
forged by Nixon and Brézh-
nev earlier at Camp David,
the presidential retreat in the
mountains of Maryland. It is
designed to spur negotiators
for the two countries at the
recessed strategic arms limi-
tation talks (SALT) in Gen-
eva.

For the first time, the two
nations committed themselves
in principle to actual reduc-
 tions of their nuclear weapon-
ry as well as to permanent
limitations. Also significantly,
the United States evidently is
bowing to Soviet objections to
On-site inspections.

One of the seven stated
principles provides that ‘‘na-
tional technical means’ be
the system of verifying
whether Washington and Mos-
 cow were living up to a mis-
sile limitation.

Surveillance of multiple in-
dependently targeted  war-
heads MIRVS evidently would
be restricted mostly to obser-
vation by radar and spy sat-
ellite while in flight tests.

Henry A. Kissinger, the
President’s national security
adviser, briefing newsmen,
 said that “those MIRV agree-
ments that are not verifiable
by national technical means
would be difficult to recon-
cile”’ with the objective of re-
stricting complex nuclear of-
fensive weapons.

The two nations agreed in
another provision that efforts

(Continued on Page 2, Col. 3)
 
WASHINGTON (UPD —
President Nixon and Soviet
Yeader Leonid 1. Brezhnev
pledged today to avoid military
confrontations and threats of
force that might lead to nuclear
war between their two nations.

In a poucy declaration, the
leaders of the two nuclear
superpowers agreed to “‘im-
mediately enter into urgent
consultations with each other”
 should the risk of a nuclear
conflict arise.

Nixon and Brezhnev signed
the agreement —the eighth
since the start of their summit
talks —in a ceremony in the
East Room of the White House
a few hours before their
scheduled departure aboard the
presidential jettiner for San
Clemente, Calif., fot the conclu-
sion of their week-long con-
ference.

In the agreement. the two
 leaders promsed that the
United States and the Soviet
Union “will act in such a
Thaoner as to prevent the
development of situations capa-
ble of causing a dangerous
exacerbation of their relations,
as to avoid military confronta-
tons, and to exclude the
outbreak of nuclear war be
tween them and between either
of the parties and other
counties.”

The accord also calls for the
 signatories to proceed from the
premise that each will refrain
“from the threat or use of force
against the other party, against
the allies of the other party,
and against other countries, in
circumstances which may en-
danger international peace and
security.”

In advance of the signing,
Nixon briefed congressional
leaders of both parties on the
declaration, which 1s a state

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