The United States is now moving towards nonproliferation and nuclear export policies which will directly or tangentially affect the Soviet Union. Policymakers may be assuming that cooperation between the two countries on nuclear matters will be easy, and may be inclined to engage in a degree of mirror-imaging and wishful thinking about Soviet interests. In designing nonproliferation schemes, it is important to understand what the United States can reasonably ask of the other superpower. The Soviet Union has been considerably more consistent and effective than the United-States in promoting policies to prevent nuclear spread; the Soviet nuclear export control approach may suggest certain lessons for the United States.