|
29 November 2001 |
|
http://www.nsarchive.org/news/20011129 |
|
1965 Warsaw Pact plans say Vienna, Munich, Verona, and other European population and cultural centers were to be "completely destroyed" Vienna, Munich, Verona, and other European population and cultural centers were to be "completely destroyed," according to 1965 Warsaw Pact plans for war in Europe made public today on the Zurich-based web site of the Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact (PHP)Żan international consortium of scholars dedicated to the study of the historical background of European security, http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php. Found in the Hungarian archives, the documents are vivid reminders of the menace posed by the Cold War nuclear arsenals that Presidents Bush and Putin are only now beginning to significantly dismantle. Also published on the website is a confidential report from 1981 in which Soviet minister of defense Marshal Dmitri Ustinov identifies the Soviet SS-20 missiles as tools of the nuclear destruction of strategic targets in "all European NATO states." Although Western European cities were always suspected as being targeted, this is the first time that obliteration of specific cities is confirmed from top-secret planning records. The Hungarian document describes a highest-level command exercise indistinguishable from actual war plans - such as was the 1964 Warsaw Pact plan for an attack on Western Europe published on the PHP website in May 2000. The full press release is available at the following URL: http://www.nsarchive.org/news/20011129
THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE
is an independent non-governmental research institute and library
located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The
Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity,
the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is
supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and
individuals. |
|
|
