Soviet Commentator Cautiously Optimistic on Gains at Talks

The U.S.-Soviet talks in Geneva allowed both sides to clarify their positions on nuclear disarmament and will help promote further Soviet-American dialogue, a senior Soviet commentator said Tuesday.

Valentin Zorin, who usually provides Soviet commentaries on matters involving the United States, broadcast from a Geneva hotel room even before the meetings ended. His commentary appeared on Moscow’s main evening television news program, Vremya (Time).

Zorin tempered his relatively optimistic analysis with a note of caution, saying, “On the path to mutual understanding it will be necessary to overcome many obstacles created by the enemies of cooperation.”

From the Soviet standpoint, he said, the talks between Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and Secretary of State George P. Shultz allowed Moscow to outline its views on key issues directly to American officials.

“Clarification of the position of both sides is a significant factor in furthering a Soviet-U.S. dialogue,” Zorin said.

‘Bourgeois Propaganda’

He said the Geneva talks gave the Soviet Union the opportunity to “break down a wall of bourgeois propaganda” against Soviet arms reduction proposals.

“During the Geneva talks, the U.S.S.R. again has demonstrated its good will and its steadfast determination to remove the threat which nuclear missiles present to mankind,” Zorin said, echoing the Soviet leadership’s view that it cannot be blamed for any failures in the talks.

His report was the most detailed analysis in the Soviet media since the two-day Geneva conference began.