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TRANSCRIPT OF MEETING OF SECRETARY OF STATE ALEXANDER HAIG WITH SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTER ANDREI GROMYKO IN ATHENS, GREECE, APRIL 16, 1982:
GROMYKO: For as long as the war in the Aegean goes on, we will be in favor of whatever Greece would like.
HAIG: How far will the Politburo go to back Greece?
GROMYKO: This is already well known, I think. We will give the Greek army the arms it wishes---up to a point. We will issue declarations and lend all our prestige to settling the dispute so that the islands occupied by Turkey are returned to their rightful owner. Much of what we do will involve going through diplomatic channels.
HAIG: You're providing the Greek armed forces with high-level intelligence regarding Turkish movements, I understand.
GROMYKO: Perhaps your sources are better than mine. I do not know anything of what you say. Maybe this is true. It is possible.
HAIG: let me get this straight: You're telling me that at no time will the Soviet Union take any direct military action to assist Greece against Turkey?
GROMYKO: Speaking of the future, who can say? For now I think you would be on safe ground to say that military action on behalf of Greece is not a practical alternative for the U.S.S.R. We are not anxious to have the confrontation with your country that such military action would invite.
HAIG: And if Greece should suffer a severe reverse on the battlefield?
GROMYKO: I do not think even then that intervention will be likely.
HAIG: And if the Greek government falls and is replaced by a regime far less sympathetic toward your government?
GROMYKO: That has happened before. In Chile, for example, when you Americans collaborated in bringing down Allende....
HAIG: American involvement in Allende's fall has never been substantiated."
GROMYKO: Who is fooling whom, now? You know very well, Alexander, what your generals were up to in Santiago before the coup. We recognized that Chile was in your orbit, not ours. We could protest, but otherwise there was nothing we could do.
HAIG: There's always the possibility that your forces may be drawn into the conflict against their will."
GROMYKO: Yes, this is so, but we shall do our best to avoid it.
HAIG: The Turks keep threatening to fire on Soviet supply ships if they're too closely identified with Greek actions.
GROMYKO: I would like to say it one final time, my friend. We do not wish an engagement with the Turks. I must leave you. But I would say our discussion this afternoon has been most profitable to both of us.
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