| Moscow Summit | |
|---|---|
 Nixon and Brezhnev signing the SALT agreement during the summit | |
| Host country |  Soviet Union |
| Date | May 22–30, 1972 |
| Cities | Moscow |
| Venues | Kremlin Palace |
| Participants | Leonid Brezhnev Richard Nixon |
| Follows | Glassboro Summit Conference |
| Precedes | Washington Summit (1973) |
TheMoscow Summit of 1972 was a summit meeting betweenPresidentRichard M. Nixon of theUnited States andGeneral SecretaryLeonid Brezhnev of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union. It was held May 22–30, 1972. It featured the signing of theAnti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the firstStrategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), and theU.S.–Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement. The summit is considered one of the hallmarks of thedétente at the time between the twoCold War antagonists.
The summit followed in the wake of the historic1972 Nixon visit to China earlier that year, with the Nixon administration soon concluding negotiations for the president to visit the Soviet Union.
On May 22, Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Moscow (and only the second president, afterFranklin D. Roosevelt, to visit the Soviet Union up until that point), as he andHenry Kissinger arrived to begin a summit meeting with Brezhnev.[1]First Lady of the United StatesPat Nixon also made the trip.[2] Nixon and Brezhnev engaged in unscheduled talks on that first day.[2] Later that evening, a banquet was held at theKremlin.[2]
On May 23, Nixon andChairman of thePresidium of theSupreme SovietNikolai Podgorny signed theAgreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection.[3]
On May 24, Nixon andPremier of the Soviet UnionAlexei Kosygin signedan agreement paving the way for theApollo-Soyuz Test Project.[4]
On May 26, Nixon and Brezhnev signed two landmark nuclear arms control agreements. TheSALT I treaty, product of theStrategic Arms Limitation Talks, froze the number of strategic ballistic missile launchers at existing levels, while theAnti-Ballistic Missile Treaty restricted both sides to only two sites foranti-ballistic missiles, with 100 missiles each.[5]
On May 29, Nixon and Brezhnev concluded the conference, with the signing of a joint declaration of long-range plans to avoid a military confrontation and to eventually disarm.[6]
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