Both Sides Say Signs Point to a ‘Fresh Start’

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was first to signal that the summit was about to be proclaimed a success--at least by the two superpower leaders who concluded their extraordinary experiment in personal diplomacy Wednesday.

“The fact that the meeting has taken place is itself” a positive development, he said even before their final sessions began.

Gorbachev’s theme was quickly picked up by the chief Soviet spokesman, who echoed almost exactly the pre-summit words of the Reagan Administration as he declared, “This meeting marks a new beginning.”

And President Reagan could not have been displeased with the Soviets for expressing so clearly his own “fresh start” hopes for the summit. Asked near the end of Wednesday’s meetings how the summit was progressing, Reagan said, “Cordially, cordially.”

News Is ‘So Good’

Turning aside later questions with a smile, the President exclaimed that the news was “so good we’re going to hold it until tomorrow.”

Whether all of the professed satisfaction on both sides adds up to real progress on the substantive matters dividing the superpowers remains to be seen. It was not clear Wednesday night, for example, whether U.S.-Soviet disputes over arms control and regional conflicts had moved significantly closer to resolution.

For all those long-range reservations, however, the United States seemed to have won a significant victory at the summit by turning aside the Soviet effort to make nuclear arms the dominant element in the meeting.

Moscow’s pre-summit propaganda clearly indicated that Gorbachev would seek to insist that the focus in Geneva be almost wholly on arms control--and particularly on the Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the space-based missile defense program popularly known as “Star Wars.”

Even on his arrival here Monday, Gorbachev had declared that the main order of business was to “halt the unprecedented arms race in the world, and its extension to new spheres.”

But his spokesman, Leonid M. Zamyatin, on Wednesday clearly dodged the question of how he could claim that “positive results” had already flowed from the summit if the Soviets had failed to stop SDI.

And White House spokesman Larry Speakes, in reporting that “broad areas of agreement” had been reached on various issues, made it clear that discussions had been thorough on all four categories on the agenda: arms control, regional conflicts, bilateral issues, and human rights--not just one.

Bilateral concerns apparently yielded the most results, with a new cultural exchange agreement among the documents considered ready to be signed here today. But these matters could have been handled without Reagan and Gorbachev coming to the summit, as Arthur A. Hartman, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, has said.

No tangible results had been expected from the “lively discussion” that took place between Gorbachev and Reagan on human rights issues. The Soviets, even if they intend to be more flexible on treatment of dissidents and on Jewish emigration, would not formally agree to concessions on matters that they claim fall solely within their internal affairs.

Soviet satisfaction with the summit, however premature, was immediately reflected in Moscow, where Pravda, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper, on Thursday morning carried its first-ever front-page picture of Reagan. The other Warsaw Pact nations were seen here as certain to follow suit in pronouncing the summit a success.

“Clearly a new direction is being taken by the Kremlin,” an Eastern European journalist said after Zamyatin’s briefing at midday. “We will all read his (Zamyatin’s) comments that way.”

The Soviet spokesman first expanded on Gorbachev’s earlier remarks and added, with emphasis, that “major international issues and problems between the United States and the Soviet Union” were examined by the leaders. “This in itself is a very important event,” he said.

He described the meetings between Gorbachev and Reagan as “frank, candid and businesslike.” But when one reporter noted that such words in diplomatic jargon have often meant deep divisions, Zamyatin said the words should not be interpreted negatively.

And when asked how he could already claim a positive outcome when the Soviets had failed to stop Reagan’s “Star Wars” program, Zamyatin replied blandly that “the fact that they talked over the major issues is a positive sign.”

Announcements Awaited

It remains to be seen whether the “joint appearance” now scheduled for the two leaders this morning will produce any joint statements or communiques by which the world can judge whether there is enough meat under the summit’s shining facade to justify such pronouncements of success.

Even in the Reagan Administration, there are officials--long skeptical of arms control agreements--who may soon begin to express doubts about any arms deals that flow from this summit.

Undersecretary of Defense Fred C. Ikle and Assistant Defense Secretary Richard N. Perle, for example, were seen sitting around a table near the summit’s end with gloomy expressions on their faces.