Won’t Change Arms Stand, Soviets Say : Geneva Negotiator Insists U.S. Must Abandon ‘Star Wars’

The chief Soviet negotiator at the Geneva arms reduction talks today ruled out any progress as long as the United States continues research on the “Star Wars” space-based missile defense system.

In a statement on his arrival from Moscow, Ambassador Viktor P. Karpov said the United States must make “the necessary adjustments” in its position if existing offensive nuclear arsenals are to be reduced.

U.S. chief negotiator Max M. Kampelman, who returned 12 hours before Karpov, called on the Soviets to match American “flexibility” at the negotiations.

“We were perhaps somewhat disappointed at the slow pace (of the first round) and I hope that we can enliven and quicken that pace during the second round of these negotiations,” he told reporters.

The second round of talks will begin Thursday after a six-week recess. The first round began March 12 and ended April 23 in apparent deadlock.

Must Abandon ‘Star Wars’

But Karpov today made it clear that his instructions are the same: The Soviets will agree to reductions in long-range and medium-range nuclear weapons only if the United States abandons its Strategic Defense Initiative, dubbed the “Star Wars” defense.

“The U.S. ‘Star Wars’ program--the program of developing and deploying space-strike arms--carries with it a considerably greater risk of nuclear war and sharply reduced chances of reaching agreement on disarmament issues,” Karpov said.

“On the contrary, renunciation of the development, including research, testing and deployment of space-strike arms, would open the way to radical reductions in nuclear arms and ultimately to the realization of mankind’s cherished dream--complete elimination of nuclear arms everywhere,” he said.

The Reagan Administration refuses to give up research on the Star Wars defense on the ground that the Soviets are conducting similar research and that a research ban would be impossible to verify.