Soviets ‘Backtracking’ in Arms Talks, U.S. Charges

The Reagan Administration today accused the Soviet Union of backtracking on arms reductions during the first round of nuclear weapons talks in Geneva and said the success of the second round, opening Thursday, is “in their hands.”

White House spokesman Larry Speakes outlined the U.S. position as President Reagan instructed his chief negotiator at the talks, Max Kampelman, before his departure for the Swiss city.

“The United States returns to the negotiations with hope if the Soviets are able to turn from their internal accounts and take advantage of the opportunity for progress,” Speakes said. “For our part, we will be patient.

“If the Soviets would show some flexibility, some imagination to grasp U.S. proposals, then the opportunity for progress is there,” he said. “It’s in their hands.”

Agrees With Gorbachev

Speakes noted that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was quoted by a West German official after a meeting in Moscow on Monday as saying the first round was “completely fruitless” because of U.S. refusal to halt research on high-tech anti-missile defenses, the program known popularly as “Star Wars.”

The spokesman said “we find ourselves in agreement” with Gorbachev’s characterization but maintained that the lack of progress in the first round was due to “Soviet backtracking from positions they took in previous negotiations” rather than the U.S. position on space weapons.

Robert Sims, deputy White House press secretary for foreign affairs, said the Soviets had made proposals for arms reductions in previous negotiations but had refused to renew them at Geneva.

Speakes later softened his description of the first round somewhat, saying: “I wouldn’t characterize the first round of talks as fruitless. I wouldn’t pick up (Gorbachev’s) words. They did not make progress, but it certainly served a useful purpose for the two sides to sit down and state their arguments.”

Reviewed Instructions

Speakes said Reagan reviewed final instructions to the negotiators over the weekend and approved them. He said they would be cabled to the other negotiators, former Republican Sen. John Tower of Texas and Maynard Glitman, who left for Geneva before Kampelman met with the President.

Speakes said the instruction contained no shift in the U.S. bargaining position but called for “serious negotiations and flexibility in approach.”

He described Gorbachev’s comments as “an intriguing tactic for turning recalcitrance into a virtue.”

“In the coming round, we will be flexible without rewarding the Soviets for their backtracking,” Speakes said. “We hope for more positive results than we saw in Round One and we will be patient in our search for reductions of nuclear weapons.”