Kadafi Receives a Warm Welcome in Moscow

The Kremlin gave a warm welcome Thursday to Col. Moammar Kadafi, and the Libyan strongman held talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on the Iran-Iraq War, the Middle East and Africa.

Kadafi, viewed in the West as a sponsor of international terrorism, was hailed in Soviet media as a revolutionary leader in the struggle against imperialism and colonialism.

The Soviet Union, chief arms supplier to Libya, was reported likely to sign a treaty of friendship during Kadafi’s visit that could increase the flow of arms to the North African regime.

Gorbachev and Kadafi exchanged views “in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding,” according to Tass, the official news agency.

Also at the Kremlin talks were Soviet President Andrei A. Gromyko, Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and Defense Minister Sergei L. Sokolov.

Kadafi’s standing with the Kremlin was shown by a front-page photograph and biography in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, and by extensive film of his arrival on the main evening television news program.

Kadafi, who is making his first visit to Moscow since 1981, also came here in 1976. And while he has close ties with the Soviet leadership, their policies frequently conflict.

Gorbachev, for example, expressed the Soviet view last week that Israel has a right to exist within secure frontiers, a view that is not accepted by Kadafi and other hard-line Arab leaders.

Moscow has another policy difference with Kadafi. While the Soviet Union has adopted a policy of neutrality in the war between Iran and Iraq, Kadafi has sent some Soviet arms to Iran, reportedly angering the Kremlin.

The United States has accused Kadafi of promoting terrorism by training guerrillas and supporting subversive movements in Western countries.

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