Soviets Offer New Pullout Plan to Cut Forces in Central Europe

The Soviet Union offered Thursday to withdraw 20,000 of its combat troops from Central Europe if the United States would reduce its forces there by 13,000, a government spokesman said.

The proposal was made at negotiations in Vienna on limiting conventional military forces, Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir B. Lomeiko said at a news briefing.

He added that the aim of the proposal is to breathe new life into the deadlocked Vienna talks, which have been bogged down for 11 years by a dispute over the actual size of Warsaw Pact forces.

While there has been agreement that Washington and Moscow should take the lead in troop reduction, the North Atlantic Treaty Organiation wants the Soviets to remove 30,000 troops in return for the withdrawal of 13,000 American troops.

Western diplomats here said the Soviet offer appears to be primarily a repackaging and simplification of a 1983 proposal by the Kremlin.

In Washington, the State Department issued a statement saying: “We welcome the fact that the Warsaw Treaty Organization states at the MBFR (mutual and balanced force reduction) talks have presented a further development of their position on conventional force reductions in Central Europe.

“The United States and its NATO allies will be studying these new elements of the Eastern position and we will provide an appropriate response in due course. We hope that this Eastern move reflects a willingness to re-establish a serious dialogue in Vienna which has been absent since NATO modified its position in April, 1984.”

Lomeiko said NATO has not proved its charge that the Warsaw Pact underestimates its troop strength by 180,000 men. The time has come, he added, to “get out of this dead end over figures” and agree on overall troop levels.

The eventual goal, he said, is to put a ceiling of 900,000 each on NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in Europe, with a limit of 700,000 ground troops in each military alliance.

Right now, Lomeiko said, NATO has 991,000 troops and the Warsaw Pact has 979,000, with “roughly half” of the latter total contributed by the Soviet Union.

“The new initiative . . . is constructive and practical,” said Tass, the official Soviet news agency. “It makes it possible within a short period to achieve the first tangible result at the Vienna negotiations.

“This would undoubtedly contribute to creating the necessary trust, a favorable climate for further joint efforts to strengthen peace and stability in Europe without detriment to the security of the (two) sides,” Tass added.

Under the plan, the withdrawal of Soviet and American combat units, arms and equipment would take place within one year after an agreement is signed, Lomeiko said.

Individual soldiers--as opposed to entire units--could account for up to 10% of the troops withdrawn under the Soviet proposal.

In addition, there would be an overall freeze on the number of troops and weapons in Central Europe to make sure Soviet or American allies do not offset the cutbacks by increasing their forces in the region, Lomeiko added.

Withdrawal of forces would be monitored at three or four “observation points” on each side, he said, to assure that the required number of troops leave Central Europe.

Tass said both sides also would be able to check on troop withdrawals through “national technical verification means.” This was a diplomatic euphemism for “spy-in-the-sky” satellite photography.

The plan, offered on behalf of East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia as well as the Soviet Union, envisions a three-year agreement.