Gorbachev Agrees to Summit Talks : Reagan Rejects Moratorium Bid as Inadequate

President Reagan on Sunday dismissed as inadequate Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s “good will” gesture of halting Soviet deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles. And he flatly refused Gorbachev’s request for a moratorium on U.S. missile basings, contending this would freeze the Soviets into a 10-to-1 advantage in warheads.

Reagan also viewed Gorbachev’s first favorable public response to his summit invitation as nothing new beyond what the Kremlin leader already had written to him privately, his spokesman said.

The President, enjoying a warm, sunny Easter with family members at his mountaintop ranch, was noticeably unimpressed with Gorbachev’s call for “honest dialogue” and his demonstration of “good will” by freezing deployment of SS-20, triple warhead nuclear missiles aimed at Western Europe.

“We will examine (Gorbachev’s) remarks and give them the consideration that they deserve,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes commented coolly, emphasizing he was expressing the view of the President.

Proposed at Geneva

It was learned, meanwhile, that the Soviet freeze on intermediate-range missiles and the request for a moratorium on deployment in Europe of U.S. Pershing 2 and cruise missiles actually was proposed two weeks ago by Soviet negotiators at newly resumed nuclear arms control talks in Geneva. U.S. negotiators rejected the proposal.

“Fine, if they want to freeze. But, as far as that being any exchange for ceasing U.S. deployment, which is substantially smaller than the Soviet deployment, no,” Speakes asserted Sunday.

The spokesman added that it is the Administration’s position that a Soviet freeze on intermediate range weapons “is not enough. The next step is to move to reductions. And they enjoy such a distinct advantage that it’s incumbent upon them at Geneva to discuss arms reduction, not a freeze at an advantage to the Soviet Union.”

According to the Pentagon, the Soviets have deployed 414 SS-20 missiles, two-thirds of them in the European part of the Soviet Union and the rest in the Asian part. A State Department official, speaking on condition he not be identified, said the Soviets “really have reached the limit. They’ve put out so many (SS-20s) that talks about a halt in deployment have no meaning.”

Range Up to 4,700 Miles

The mobile SS-20 has a range listed at 3,500 miles, although it can hit targets 4,700 miles away with reduced payloads.

To counter the SS-20s, the United States in late 1983, under a plan adopted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, began deploying 108 Pershing 2 and 464 cruise missiles in Western Europe.

“The (Gorbachev) proposal for a moratorium seems to revive prior Soviet efforts designed to freeze in place a considerable Soviet advantage,” Speakes said, reading a prepared statement. “The deployment, for example, at this time in intermediate nuclear forces gives a 10-1 advantage in the Soviets’ favor.”

Speakes said that it is “also worth noting that prior Soviet statements of intent to establish a moratorium have been followed by continued deployment.”

‘A Lopsided Imbalance’

“Stability cannot be achieved by maintaining a lopsided imbalance accompanied by a refusal to reduce the level of nuclear weapons,” Speakes continued. “The President believes that we can achieve reductions and looks to the Soviet Union to fulfill its pledges to the same end.”

Speakes said Gorbachev’s comment that he had “a positive attitude” toward a summit with Reagan did not move the two superpower leaders any closer to such a meeting.

“We both expressed a desire to have a summit and we will,” Speakes said. “We have not yet agreed when and where the meeting will take place. . . . There have been no talks between the U.S. and the Soviet Union regarding the specifics. . . . The summit paragraph (in Gorbachev’s statement) is a minor part of the whole thing.”

Still, it was the first public confirmation by the new Soviet leader that he would like to meet with the U.S. President.

Vice President George Bush, when he attended the March 13 funeral of Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko, delivered to Gorbachev a personal letter from Reagan inviting him to a summit in the United States. White House officials, speaking anonymously, disclosed last Monday that Reagan has received a positive response from Gorbachev in a return letter.

The President on Sunday said nothing publicly and left it up to Speakes to relay the Administration’s position.

Horseback Riding

Reagan, shortly before he went horseback riding Sunday morning, was telephoned by national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane with news of Gorbachev’s statement.

It was learned that the President had been expecting such a public Soviet announcement, based on signals U.S. negotiators had picked up in Geneva. The Administration basically regarded Gorbachev’s public airing, in effect, of a rejected Soviet negotiating proposal as a violation of the confidentiality both sides had agreed to in the Geneva talks.

Gorbachev said that the Soviet moratorium on deployment of SS-20s would stay in effect until November, at which time it will be reconsidered on the basis of whether the United States had frozen deployment of Pershing 2 and cruise missiles.

Speakes said that although the United States is rejecting a moratorium of its own for now, “everything’s on the table” in Geneva. “If they come forward in a forthright fashion of agreeing to some reductions on their part, then certainly we would take some steps on our own part.”

Reagan apparently also did not see in Gorbachev’s comments any hopeful signs that relations are improving between Moscow and Washington.

“It would be premature,” Speakes said, “to make any kind of a sweeping statement on any change in U.S.-Soviet relations. . . . There has not been a lot of change in the Soviets’ statements.”