From the S&S archives: Soviets, Bonn sign 1st pact, set up trade

BONN — Russian Deputy Premier Anastas I. Mikoyan Friday signed the first agreements between the Soviet Union and West Germany.

The agreements covered a three-year exchange of trade and establishing of consular representatives in Bonn and Moscow.

Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano signed for West Germany.

Mikoyan said he realized the trade envisaged under the agreement was small but said it was a beginning, "and we hope it will grow greater from year to year."

Mikoyan flew in from Moscow Friday morning for the ceremony, landing in a sleek Soviet TU104 jet transport at Frankfurt. Then he came by train to Bonn to be the first Russian leader to visit West Germany in its eight years of existence as an independent state.

For Mikoyan's arrival, heavy security precautions were clamped on Frankfurt Airport — one of Europe's largest and busiest terminals.

Hundreds of federal, state and city police swarmed over the terminal. Some carried submachine guns.

Immediately after the Soviet jet pulled to a halt, German police threw a cordon around the plane.

More than 1,000 spectators had gathered to watch the arrival of the first jet transport ever to land in West Germany. Another cordon of police kept the crowd some distance back from the aircraft.

For the first time the Red flag flew over the German capital. It was hoisted at the railroad station a scant 10 minutes before Mikoyan's special train pulled in.

As Mikoyan's special train drew to a halt, Bonn's lawmakers across town were debating a Socialist move to call a nationwide referendum on the question of whether West German troops should receive atomic arms.

The Russians have been campaigning hard against Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government's decision to arm German troops with atomic weapons.

Interior Minister Gerhard Schroeder called attention to the Mikoyan visit when he told parliament:

"On the day of a Soviet visit to Bonn all Germans should unite in mourning the fate of the Germans in Koenigsberg."

That is a former German city in territory seized by the Russians after World War II. It is now called Kaliningrad.

Mikoyan told a reception party at Frankfurt Airport that he hoped his talks with West German leaders "would bring about an atmosphere of trust between the two countries."

Mlkoyan was accompanied by a large Soviet delegation.

He was welcomed by a delegation of 100 West German officials headed by Van Brentano.

Von Brentano told the Soviet official that "we hope these talks will lead us closer to a solution of other great problems."