Summit between US President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet state and party leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington. The treaty on the abolition of medium-range missiles (INF) is signed.
According to the terms of the treaty, all nuclear-capable medium-range missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres have to be dismantled within the next three years (after the treaty comes into force on 1 June 1988).
Among others, the American Pershing II and the Soviet SS-20 missiles are affected by the treaty. Further serious steps towards disarmament, above all in the area of long-range offensive weapons, are to be made. Gorbachev also announces his willingness to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan; the USA promises a quick ratification of the INF treaty if Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
Mikhail Gorbachev meets Ronald Reagan in Washington, December 1987 (Photo: Mittelstädt/BA 1987/1210/49 N)
Manfred Wörner (CDU) is appointed as the new NATO Secretary-General (from 1 June 1988).
11 December
1987
Meeting between leading representatives of the Warsaw Pact states in East Berlin. The Soviet party and state leader Gorbachev reports on the INF negotiations in Vienna.
12 December
1987
As part of an amnesty for the 38th anniversary of the GDR, altogether 24,621 prisoners have been released from prison this year.
