European Security Session Ends; East, West Express Optimism

The eighth session of the 35-nation European security conference ended Friday with both the Soviet and U.S. representatives optimistic about prospects for concluding an agreement.

“This past session has seen real progress . . . and the outlines of an agreement are now visible,” chief U.S. delegate Robert Barry said in his closing remarks to the session, which began Nov. 5.

“The results are generally positive. . . . There are good prospects of success,” chief Soviet delegate Oleg Grinevsky declared.

Afterward, Barry told reporters: “We have an agreement virtually within our grasp. I believe there is political will to start drafting and, more importantly, to get an agreement.”

1975 Helsinki Accords

The conference is part of the detente process launched by the 1975 Helsinki accords. It groups the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and 32 European states in talks aimed at reducing the risk of war breaking out in Europe as a result of surprise attack, accident or miscalculation.

Grinevsky said that last month’s Geneva summit between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev had had a profound influence on the Stockholm talks.

“The atmosphere has become more businesslike and it was possible to pick a number of questions which could form the substance of a future agreement,” he said.

Delegates settled the last major procedural question Thursday when they agreed to a working schedule for 1986 which gives them until Sept. 19 to complete their work.

The conference is due to report to a full meeting of the Conference on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and Disarmament in Europe, which begins preparatory sessions in Vienna on Sept. 23.

Grinevsky said that it is possible a concluding document might be on paper by September.

Difficult Drafting Ahead

Barry said that there had been a real convergence of views between East and West on the goals of the conference although he cautioned that drafting a detailed accord would not be easy.

Areas of general agreement included key North Atlantic Treaty Organization proposals on annual forecasts of military activities, lowering the threshold for notification of military activities and inviting observers, Barry said.

The U.S. envoy also said there was agreement that the main Soviet proposal on renouncing the use of force would form part of the final concluding document.

The biggest problem areas are expected to be NATO’s insistence on verification and on exchanges of basic military information, and Moscow’s desire to bring air and naval activities outside Europe within any agreement.

Barry said that the United States would sign an accord only that was militarily significant, adding: “We would rather have no agreement than one which promises confidence but undermines it in fact.”

Drafting of the final agreement is to start when the participants reconvene here for the ninth session Jan. 28.