‘International Banditry’ Charged : Reagan Ignored Disarmament, Tass Says

Reacting strongly to President Reagan’s proposal to put regional disputes in Asia, Africa and Central America on the agenda at the coming Soviet-U.S. summit in Geneva, the Soviet Union Friday charged that Reagan’s U.N. speech ignored the “burning issue” of nuclear disarmament and served only to justify a U.S. policy of “international banditry.”

The Kremlin view was put forth in a commentary by Tass, the official news agency, and reflected a growing Soviet irritation at pre-summit moves by Washington.

Reagan, addressing the U.N. General Assembly’s 40th anniversary session Thursday, called for joint U.S.-Soviet action to resolve conflicts between guerrillas and Soviet-backed governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. His suggestion appeared to be that those governments share their power with the rebels.

Tass charged that Reagan had “flagrantly misrepresented” the turmoil in those countries and tried to “whitewash the undeclared wars unleashed for the purpose of suppressing peoples’ struggle for freedom and progress.” His speech, Tass added, “boiled down to the rehashing of Washington’s well-known bankrupt foreign policy directives . . . in a more attractive package.”

Calling Reagan’s plan an attempt to legalize U.S. “actions of international banditry,” Tass said Reagan showed no intention of giving up his policy of “glorifying” the 1983 U.S. invasion and occupation of Grenada.

Soviet Media Charges

The latest attack on Reagan came after repeated charges in the Soviet media that the President was employing a variety of strategies to undercut any possibility of accord at the Geneva meeting Nov. 19-20 with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The Soviets have said that the recent U.S. test of an anti-satellite weapon, the rejection of a Moscow-backed moratorium on nuclear tests and Reagan’s plan for a space-based missile defense show that Washington is not serious about summit preparations.

There was no immediate public reaction in Moscow to the announcement that Secretary of State George P. Shultz would be visiting Moscow on Nov. 4-5 for talks with Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.

But Shultz’s talks with the Kremlin leaders may provide additional indications of whether there is any prospect for progress on arms control issues at the summit, Western diplomats said.

The Soviet media have linked the success of the summit to the fate of Reagan’s so-called “Star Wars” missile defense research program. Unless it is halted, Gorbachev has said, the world will slide into a nuclear catastrophe.

Tass reflected this view in declaring that Reagan failed to discuss the important issue of nuclear arms control at the United Nations while focusing on selected regional conflicts.

“He flagrantly misrepresented the state of affairs in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Kampuchea (Cambodia) and a number of other countries,” the Tass report said, “and exerted himself to present the U.S. policy of crude interference . . . implemented directly and through the use of mercenary gangs as ‘friendly aid’ in protection against alleged ‘aggression.’ ”

Western diplomats said the Tass reaction was part of a propaganda campaign designed to put pressure on Reagan to be more flexible at Geneva.