Reagan Arms Offer Not Constructive, Tass Says

The Soviet news agency Tass brushed off President Reagan’s new arms control proposal Monday as a propaganda ploy to disguise a “tough and non-constructive” position.

Reagan’s plan, a reply to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s proposal to eliminate all nuclear weapons by the year 2000, was delivered Sunday to the Foreign Ministry.

Tass, basing its appraisal on American press accounts of the President’s message, said it pertains only to medium-range missiles and lists conditions that would prevent an agreement.

The commentary came on the eve of Gorbachev’s opening address to the 27th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party. Gorbachev is expected to discuss U.S. reaction to his wide-ranging disarmament proposal. The news agency criticism indicated that Gorbachev will likewise view Reagan’s response as inadequate.

Leonid M. Zamyatin, head of the party Central Committee’s international information department, told reporters that Reagan’s message was delivered by a second secretary from the U.S. Embassy. American sources said that U.S. Ambassador Arthur A. Hartman tried without success to get an appointment with Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze or his deputy to hand over the President’s reply.

‘Filtered’ to Media

Tass said the contents of Reagan’s reply to Gorbachev have “filtered into the U.S. mass media” without being disclosed officially.

“The reply, which constitutes a propaganda stratagem designed to justify Washington’s unwillingness to take real steps along the lines of ridding the world of nuclear annihilation, also pursues the aim of diverting attention from the Soviet proposals,” Tass said.

It said that although it took Reagan about six weeks to respond to Gorbachev’s plan, his reply deals only with medium-range nuclear weapons and makes no mention of strategic missiles.

“The U.S.A. still adheres to its old stance--tough and non-constructive--even with regard to this problem, which is by no means the main problem of nuclear disarmament,” Tass said.

It said the proposed conditions for reaching agreement on elimination of missiles in Western Europe and the European part of the Soviet Union are “obviously aimed at preventing a mutually acceptable accord.”

The Soviet Union has billed Gorbachev’s plan, made public last Jan. 15, as one of the most important developments in the history of arms control negotiations.

A high-ranking Western diplomat said the United States was annoyed because the Soviet proposal was trumpeted in the news media before being discussed in arms negotiations taking place in Geneva.