Soviets Await U.S. Reply on A-Tests : Say Washington Has Not Formally Rejected 5-Month Ban

A high-ranking Soviet official said today that the United States has not formally refused to join a five-month ban on nuclear testing and that the Kremlin hopes Washington “has not yet said its last word.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Georgi M. Kornienko criticized the Reagan Administration’s failure to reply formally to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s announcement of the unilateral test moratorium.

Gorbachev announced Monday that the Soviet Union would cease nuclear tests from Aug. 6, the 40th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, until at least Jan. 1. He invited the U.S. government to join in the moratorium.

Called Propaganda Exercise

U.S. officials have since restated their longstanding position that test bans accomplish little toward arms control because compliance is hard to verify, and accused the Kremlin of a propaganda exercise.

“The U.S. representatives stray away from responding to our proposal,” Kornienko said at a news conference. “It is hoped that the U.S. government has not yet said its last word in reply to this new show of good will on the part of the Soviet Union.”

Leonid Zamyatin, head of the Communist Party Central Committee’s International Information Department, called on the Reagan Administration to join the test ban so “we will see whether the United States is ready for agreement” on efforts to halt the arms race.

Kornienko indicated that the Soviets would soon deliver a formal refusal to the U.S. invitation to observe a nuclear test explosion in Nevada.

Why ‘Consecrate’ Tests?

“Why do the Soviet experts have to go over to the United States and thus consecrate by their presence these tests?” Kornienko asked. “Even in Washington, no one expects seriously to have such a response.”

Col.-Gen. Nikolai Chervov, a senior official of the armed forces general staff, was asked at the news conference how many Soviet nuclear tests had been scheduled for the five-month period covered by the moratorium, but he declined to answer.

The Soviet officials said the Soviet Union has been making better efforts toward slowing the arms race than the United States, and said it is up to Washington to show its willingness to cooperate.

Agreeing to the five-month test ban “would be a real step in the direction of lessening tensions,” Zamyatin said.