Gorbachev Rails at U.S., Backs Off

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, slapping the table to make his angry point, today accused American leaders of “political demagoguery” for talking about peace but taking no concrete steps toward it. But he quickly backed down when asked if he had President Reagan in mind.

Making it clear he did not want to poison the atmosphere before his summit meeting with the President in Geneva next month, Gorbachev praised Reagan for offering “a very serious response” to the latest Soviet proposals for nuclear disarmament.

Gorbachev’s outburst and then change of mood came at a rare joint news conference with President Francois Mitterrand on the day before the end of the Soviet leader’s official visit to France, his first to a Western nation since taking power.

Gorbachev received both a rebuff and an important endorsement from President Mitterrand, who sat at his side during the news conference in an ornate reception room of Elysee Palace.

Proposal Rejected

Mitterrand rejected Gorbachev’s surprise proposal, which came in a speech to a French parliamentary committee Thursday, that the Soviet Union and France begin negotiations for a limitation of the size of the French nuclear arsenal. The Soviet leader said he was making the same proposal to Britain.

But, after the rebuff, Mitterrand gave Gorbachev what was probably a far more important dividend. The French president gave significant support to the policies of Gorbachev by agreeing that there can be no settlement for substantial disarmament unless President Reagan’s “Star Wars” project is abandoned.

The news conference was dominated by a sometimes-charming, sometimes-testy Gorbachev, often gesticulating with his hands, occasionally turning aside a pointed question on human rights.

Support from France against Star Wars had obviously been a major aim of the four-day visit by Gorbachev. Mitterrand has never hidden his distaste for the Reagan defense plan--officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative--of arming satellites in space so that they can shoot down nuclear missiles. Despite this, he refused a Soviet suggestion that he sign a joint communique on the issue.

Insistence on Agreement

At the news conference, however, Mitterrand went a long way toward satisfying the Soviets, who have insisted that any agreement with the United States to reduce armaments should include an agreement against arming space satellites.

Commenting on the prospects for disarmament negotiations, Mitterrand said “a considerable reduction in armaments can not come about unless the transfer of weapons from Earth to space is made impossible.” But, he went on, “it is up to the interested countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, to debate this.”

On the issue of French nuclear weapons, Mitterrand insisted that France does not have a large enough number to make a limitation feasible. “There is actually nothing to discuss,” he said.

The French have a small nuclear force, heavily dependent on six submarines that could launch 176 missiles.