Pravda Editor Sees Summit in ’86 as Certain

The Soviet-American summit will be held this year regardless of whether progress is made on arms control issues, the editor of Pravda said Sunday.

The date of the second meeting between Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and President Reagan, however, will be linked to the chances for accord on either a nuclear test ban or removal of intermediate-range missiles from Europe, Viktor G. Afanasyev, editor of the Communist Party newspaper, said.

His remarks to reporters tended to squelch doubts about whether Gorbachev would come to the United States in 1986 to meet Reagan, as they agreed to do at the first summit in Geneva.

In a speech opening the 27th Soviet Communist Party Congress last Tuesday, Gorbachev hinted that failure to reach agreement on the two arms control issues might delay the top-level conference.

Asked to clarify Gorbachev’s statement, Afanasyev said that the Kremlin chief was not trying to lay down conditions for a second meeting with Reagan.

But, the editor added, Gorbachev believes it is time to shift “from mere conversations to concrete deeds.”

On the issue of medium-range missiles, Afanasyev said, “Positions are more or less close. . . . There are some glimpses of hope here.”

He added that Reagan is under great public pressure to agree to a total ban on nuclear testing, despite the Administration’s opposition to such a step.

“There was agreement reached in Geneva that the next (summit) meeting is to take place this year,” Afanasyev said. “This is still valid. The question is only about the timing. . . .”