Came across some curious documents on the nuclear arms race in the early 1980s that I just have to share. Quite a mini-story that shows how policy-making in the Soviet Union worked at that stage.
The dramatis personae are... Brezhnev, his foreign policy aide Aleksandrov-Agentov, KGB head Andropov, Defense Minister Dmitrii Ustinov, Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and... George Kennan.
The story starts on May 18, 1981 when George Kennan, on receiving the Albert Einstein Peace Prize, called for cutting superpower nuclear arsenals by 50%. Here's the NYT story about it: 
Who picked up on this but Aleksandrov-Agentov back in Moscow who wrote a memorandum to Brezhnev, suggesting that the Soviet leader seize on this idea. Brezhnev was evidently convinced because he sent a note to Andropov, Gromyko and Ustinov endorsing Kennan's idea.
I don't think Brezhnev actually believed in cutting nuclear arsenals by 50%. Or, he did not think the Americans would ever agree. Therefore, why not put forward this idea, supported by Kennan of all people, and see whether Reagan could be "squeezed" as his note says.
But, alas, the infamous troika vetoed Brezhnev's proposal. They wrote him back, saying that "the US allies" - Britain, France, and (omg) China - would thereby get a numeral advantage in nuclear warheads. Secondly, a lower limit would benefit the US in strategic terms.
Thirdly, since the proposal entailed an across-the-board cut, including to tactical nuclear weapons, the question of inspections would arise, and the Soviet Union could not allow US inspectors on its soil.
Fourthly, if after cutting the nuclear arsenals, the need arose to build the up again, the US would be in a better position to do because they had a much more developed economy. Fifthly, no one would take the Soviets seriously - they'd think it's just propaganda!
To make a long story short, the idea died... for the time-being. In 1986 Gorbachev brought it back to Reykjavik, where he proposed a 50% reduction to Reagan (and of course the two famously came close to "abolishing" nuclear weapons altogether).
I still find it interesting that Brezhnev was overridden like this. Shows his true influence on policy in the early 1980s.
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