HC Deb 26 October 1988 vol 139 cc281-2W
Dr. Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the source of the data on the Warsaw pact central front forces as listed in figure 15, on page 61 of volume 1 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates, 1988, Cm. 344–I.

Mr. Archie Hamilton

We have long been pressing the Warsaw pact in the mutual and balanced force reductions talks to publish proper data on its conventional forces in central Europe. In view of its continuing failure to do this, the figures for the Warsaw pact forces in Poland, Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic, listed in figure 15 of volume 1 on the "Statement on the Defence Estimates 1988" (Cm. 344–I) are based on internal estimates produced by the Ministry of Defence.