Reagan Links ‘Star Wars’ to Mutual A-Missile Ban : Would Halt Deployment Until Pact

President Reagan, unveiling a new element of his military policy, said the United States will not deploy its “Star Wars” system to defend against nuclear weapons “until we do away with our nuclear missiles, our offensive missiles.”

In an interview published in Moscow today with Soviet journalists, Reagan indicated, however, that the United States will not disarm unilaterally and will expect the Soviet Union to dismantle its nuclear arsenals as well.

Twice in the 40-minute interview, Reagan discussed deploying the “Star Wars” system, and both times he linked it to the elimination of nuclear weapons.

“We would not deploy. . . . It is not my purpose for deployment, until we sit down with the other nations of the world, and those that have nuclear arsenals, and see if we cannot come to an agreement on which there will be deployment only if there is elimination of the nuclear weapons,” Reagan said.

1st Firm Linkage of Ideas

It was the first time Reagan had firmly associated deployment with disarmament.

Edward Djerejian, a White House deputy press secretary specializing in national security matters, said Reagan “is not implying doing away with all offensive weapons immediately. That would be unrealistic.

“But the President has always said that the ultimate goal is to do away with all nuclear weapons,” Djerejian said. “The transition from offensive to defensive (systems) would have to be done in stages. And if technology proves feasible, we will want to discuss such a transition with the Soviets.”

Reagan said the United States would share its “Star Wars” technology with other countries in order not to have an unfair advantage.

Lasers Against Missiles

“Star Wars,” formally called the Strategic Defense Initiative by the Administration, envisions the use of lasers, particle-beam weapons and other elements of high technology to shoot down incoming missiles.

Reagan said he was prepared to tell Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, at their summit this month, “that if such a weapon is possible, and our research reveals that, then our move would be to say to all the world, ‘Here, it is available.’

“We won’t put this weapon--or this system in place, this defensive system--until we do away with our nuclear missiles, our offensive missiles,” the President added. “But we will make it available to other countries, including the Soviet Union, to do the same thing.”

Reagan said, “And if the Soviet Union and the United States both say we will eliminate our offensive weapons, we will put in this defensive thing in case some place in the world a madman some day tries to create these weapons again--nuclear weapons--because, remember, we all know how to make them now.”

1st Interview in 24 Years

Reagan was interviewed by four Moscow journalists in the Oval Office on Thursday, the first time an American president has held an interview with the Soviet press in 24 years.

In Moscow, the government newspaper Izvestia today devoted an entire page to a text of the interview and printed a story in which the interviewers said Reagan’s “good words on peace” contradicted his allegations about Soviet foreign policy.

While most of Reagan’s criticism of Soviet foreign policy was reflected in the Izvestia text, the newspaper omitted his criticism of Moscow’s military involvement in Afghanistan, his contention that the Warsaw Pact nations “never were allowed the self-determination” granted them by the 1945 Yalta agreement and some of his arms-control remarks.

On arms control, the omissions diminished the force of Reagan’s offer to share space weapons technology with the Soviet Union.