The USSR had secretly had nuclear weapons in Hungary for years, and Grósz wanted them gone. Gorbachev agreed. Grósz decided to push his advantage. In order to “distance us from the memories of 1956, I put it to you that all Soviet troops should leave Hungary.” Gorbachev agreed as well, but had wanted to hold off to see if he could use the troop withdrawal as a bargaining chip to get NATO forces reduced in Europe as well. As a sign of good faith, hundreds of tanks and five thousand Soviet troops were withdrawn from Hungary in short order. Grósz was dumbfounded—and so was the East German
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