U.S. Rejects Soviet Talks on Test Ban : Gorbachev Makes New Proposal for Summit in Europe

SANTA BARBARA — The White House on Saturday swiftly rejected Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s latest proposal to discuss a nuclear test ban with President Reagan at a summit site other than Washington.

A statement released to reporters accompanying the vacationing President said tartly that Reagan “has taken note of General Secretary Gorbachev’s speech on Soviet television today.” It went on to reiterate the Administration’s longstanding opposition to a nuclear testing moratorium in the absence of any overall agreement on nuclear arms limitation.

The statement also dismissed Gorbachev’s call for an early meeting in London, Rome or another European capital, recalling that Gorbachev had accepted Reagan’s invitation to visit the United States in 1986 when the two men met for the first time in Geneva last November.

The Soviet leader made the proposal on his nation’s main evening television news program.

Puzzled by Offer

White House officials were puzzled by Gorbachev’s offer. “I don’t know anything more on March 29 than I did on Jan. 29,” Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan told reporters.

Regan said he thought a summit in Washington was “still possible” even though the Soviets have not yet responded to the Administration’s offer of possible dates.

“It’s up to the Russians,” Regan said.

The White House statement recalled Gorbachev’s promise to visit the United States and said the President is “confident” that Gorbachev “takes his agreement seriously and that he will respond in due course.”

The Administration had wanted the session to occur in June, well before the November congressional elections, but the Soviets had informally proposed a September date or even a late November-December time frame.

Thought Soviets Were Stalling

Administration officials had thought the Soviets were stalling to get a date to their liking, but Gorbachev’s speech appeared to throw into doubt any summit this year. Officials have said Reagan will not go out of the United States to meet Gorbachev even if it means postponing the next superpower summit until next year.

The nuclear test ban issue has been used by both sides in the public diplomacy battle that has gone on since last year’s “fireside summit” in Geneva. Just last month, Reagan offered to allow Soviet experts to examine a new U.S. verification system at a nuclear test site in Nevada. The Soviets also seem eager to restrict the next summit to a single issue--a nuclear test ban--rather than discuss a wide range of subjects, including their involvement in regional conflicts around the world.

The Administration is determined to keep the agenda as broad as possible. “Meetings at the highest level should deal with the entire range of important issues between our two countries,” the White House statement said. “Nuclear testing is one of them--but only one.”

No Mention of U.S. Summit

In Moscow, Gorbachev made his 20-minute presentation without any mention of a broad-ranging second Soviet-American summit in the United States this year.

He said he saw no “insurmountable obstacles” to reaching agreement with the United States on banning nuclear tests.

Gorbachev warned that the Soviet Union would resume its own tests--halted since last August--if the United States conducted another test after Moscow’s self-imposed test moratorium expires on Monday.

Western diplomats said Gorbachev appeared to be trying to gain propaganda points by offering to meet Reagan “in the nearest future” on the test ban issue.

To Continue Testing

Reagan and his aides have insisted that the United States intends to continue underground nuclear tests to modernize its weapons and “catch up” with the Soviet Union in this field.

Only a week ago, the United States exploded a nuclear device at its Nevada testing ground despite repeated appeals by Gorbachev and some members of Congress for an end to such tests.

In reply, Reagan invited Soviet scientists to observe the tests in an effort to improve verification techniques, but the Soviet Union said that would be tantamount to “blessing” continued testing.

Gorbachev’s proposal came on Easter weekend, a traditional time for peace demonstrations in Western Europe, where the Soviet Union is trying to win support for its test ban plan.

No ‘Insurmountable Obstacle’

“I am ready to meet President Reagan in the nearest future in London or Rome, or in any other European capital that will receive us, in order to reach agreement on this question (of ending nuclear tests), and I do not see any insurmountable obstacle to this--political, technical or any other,” Gorbachev said.

“What is needed is the necessary political will and understanding of our mutual responsibility,” he added.

“We propose to meet, exchange views on this crucial problem and issue instructions to draft an appropriate agreement,” he concluded.

The nature of the proposal seemed to catch American diplomats by surprise. Although U.S. television networks were advised by Soviet officials that a major announcement was planned Saturday night, some U.S. Embassy officials said in advance of the news program that they had no idea what would be announced.

Second Easter Message

It was the second time in two years that Gorbachev timed a major message for the Easter holiday celebrated in the West. Last year, he pledged a halt in deployment of medium-range missiles in the European zone of the Soviet Union and indicated that he would go to a summit meeting with Reagan.

Gorbachev spoke two days before the Soviet Union’s unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests was scheduled to expire.

The American blast on March 22, he said, outraged people of good will in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.

“We regard the present actions of the American Administration . . . as a pointed challenge to the Soviet Union, . . . to the whole world,” he said.

‘Narrow, Selfish Interests’

“Everything shows that the United States ruling group has placed the narrow, selfish interests of the military-industrial complex above the interests of the whole of mankind and its own people,” Gorbachev concluded.

Even though he said the Soviet Union has received word of another U.S. nuclear test in the next few days, Gorbachev said the Soviets would give the United States “another chance” once its moratorium ended.

If American tests occur after Monday, however, the Soviet Union will resume its tests, he declared.

“We regret it, but we will be forced to do so, since we cannot forgo our own security and that of our allies,” Gorbachev said.

The Soviet Union began its moratorium last Aug. 6, the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan by the United States in the closing days of World War II.

Moratorium Extended

It was extended for another three months last Jan. 1, and Gorbachev announced recently that it would continue indefinitely so long as the United States refrained from nuclear testing.

Gorbachev said the Soviet Union regards an end to nuclear tests as essential to halt the arms race between the superpowers.

“Without such tests it is impossible either to perfect or to develop new types of nuclear arms,” Gorbachev said.

“In short, if together with the United States and other nuclear powers we were to reach an accord on ending nuclear explosions, this would make it possible to get the entire process of nuclear disarmament out of deadlock.”

Defends Periodic Testing

The Reagan Administration has maintained that it must conduct periodic tests of nuclear warheads to make sure that they can be counted upon to work properly if launched. In addition, a recent test was reportedly conducted to validate research to develop a small, single-warhead mobile missile, dubbed Midgetman, and other nuclear explosions would be tied to the Strategic Defense Initiative, known informally as the “Star Wars” program, which is intended to develop a space-based missile defense system.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Robert B. Sims said, “I don’t know of any reason to change our test policy” as a result of the Soviet leader’s statement. He characterized Gorbachev’s use of the nuclear test issue as the principal element of a “public relations campaign.”

Another Pentagon official, speaking with the understanding that he not be identified by name, said that the Soviet nuclear test policy “is a public relations policy and has been from the beginning.”

Dependence on A-Arms

Gorbachev “knows we’re going to continue with our testing because we depend on nuclear weapons,” he said.

The official said that the Soviets have continued making preparations for new tests during the moratorium and already have several sites ready to conduct new trials.

In addition, he said, the Soviets have “planned their testing schedule” around the moratorium.

He said he was uncertain when the next test, conducted by the Energy Department, would be held, but that it was likely to be a trial intended to check on the reliability of an existing Minuteman missile warhead, rather than of a new weapon.

According to some sources, that test is scheduled for mid-April.

“They’re in a nice position,” the Pentagon official said of the Soviets. “They know we’re not going to cease testing, because we can’t. So when they resume their testing, we’ll be the ‘irresponsible’ party.”

Referring to pressure from some in Congress to match the Soviet moratorium by putting off any U.S. tests, the official said, “I’ll be disappointed if members of Congress are taken in on this.”

Eleanor Clift reported from Santa Barbara and William J. Eaton from Moscow.