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10. Mr Clarke said that the Americans had made it clear to the Ukraine and to other Scviet Republics that if they attempted to establish themselves as separate nuclear powers there would be very considerable damage to their relationship with the West and to the prospects for future help. Sir D Gillmore wondered whether we were doing enough to secure ratification of CFE. Mr Clarke said that the Americans were watching this carefully. They would not themselves of course ratify until the Soviet Union did so. might be necessary in some circumstances to regard Russia as the successor state for these purposes. Sir D Gillmore said this might not be acceptable to the Ukraine. Mr Walpole emphasised several times that the main thing was to get it across that whatever troops and equipment there were in the successor states to the USSR would have to count towards CFE totals. Once one reduced the problem to this practical level and got away from the juridical questions it might become somewhat easier to solve. He was relatively sanguine as to the prospects. Sir D Gillmore said we might have to use the recognition card in this context. Mr Clarke said that there was also the aid weapon to hand. They agreed however that it would not be wise to rely too much on a wholly rational approach among the participants to the problem. We needed to think these things through.
11. Sir D Gillmore ended by saying that the Mauritian Foreign Minister had quoted Deputy Secretary Eagleburger to us as taking an accommodating line on eventual Mauritian sovereignty over Diego Garcia. He had however noticed that Mr Berenger had become less specific as he had pressed him on the subject. Mr Clarke said that Mr Berenger was talking nonsense. He would be glad to go into the question further at the next round, in two weeks time, of talks on BIOT.
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