Soviets to End Moratorium on Nuclear Testing

One day after the United States set off an underground nuclear explosion in Nevada, the Soviet Union announced Friday that it will end its self-imposed, eight-month-old nuclear test moratorium

The formal statement did not indicate when, or if, the Soviet Union would set off a nuclear blast. It did, however, add that the Soviet government is still ready at any time to negotiate a halt to nuclear tests if U.S. officials agree to a moratorium.

A news conference of top diplomatic and military officials is scheduled for Monday.

‘Cannot Forgo Security’

“The Soviet government declares that from now on, it is free from the unilateral commitment made by it to refrain from conducting any nuclear explosions,” the statement declared. “In the conditions that Washington is continuing its nuclear explosions, the Soviet state cannot forgo its own security and that of its allies.”

“At the same time,” it added, “the Soviet Union believes . . . that an end to nuclear testing would be an effective, practical step leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons, and is expressing readiness to return any time to the question of a mutual moratorium on nuclear explosions, provided the government of the United States declares that it will refrain from conducting such explosions.”

The Soviets started their moratorium last Aug. 6, the 40th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It was originally to expire Dec. 31 but in mid-January, Soviet leader Mikhail S.Gorbachev said it would run until March 31. Then on March 29, Gorbachev said that the moratorium would continue for as long as the United States did not carry out any more tests.

He also proposed holding a summit meeting with Reagan in Europe devoted to the nuclear testing issue. That offer, which the President immediately turned down, arguing that any Soviet-American meeting should consider a broad range of issues, “remains in force,” Friday’s Soviet statement said.

U.S. to Continue Tests

In Washington, White House spokesman Edward P. Djerejian said the Soviet announcement makes no difference to the U.S. schedule of nuclear tests. He said that the United States has made it “abundantly clear that we require nuclear testing for our security.”

“Accordingly, we intend to pursue the current testing program,” Djerejian said.

“I think we have to note that the Soviets have been making preparations for some time now to resume nuclear testing,” he added. “When they choose to resume is their decision.”

In view of the Reagan Administration’s unyielding position on the issue, Western diplomats said it appeared that Gorbachev is trying to sway public opinion rather than persuade the United States to change its stand.

Friday’s statement continued Thursday’s harsh criticism of the U.S. test. It said that “once again Washington has placed the egoistic, imperial ambitions of the United States’ military-industrial complex above the interests of mankind” and had rejected “the alternative to nuclear madness.”

Seen as Challenge

“The American government’s irresponsible actions are an open challenge not only to the Soviet Union but . . . to the world as a whole,” the statement added.

Soviet Analyst, a biweekly British publication, said in its latest issue that Gorbachev was aware that he could win “great propaganda credit by repeating the offer to discuss a nuclear test ban with Reagan in any European capital.

“The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) view is that the Soviet Union has carried out the (nuclear) tests required for its new land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles--the SS-24 and SS-25--before Gorbachev declared a unilateral freeze on nuclear testing last August,” the publication said.

NATO specialists believe that the Soviet Union may have to resume testing this summer of a new submarine-launched missile known as the SS-23, the London-based publication said.

Protest by U.S.

Meanwhile, according to Western news agencies, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Arthur A. Hartman, said he has formally protested a series of “orchestrated” demonstrations this week at American diplomatic missions supporting Soviet arms control policies.

Hartman said there had been four protests by groups representing Soviet organizations in Moscow and at least one at the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad. One of this week’s demonstrations spilled into the American Embassy with television cameras, he said.

“We have already registered a complaint with them,” Hartman told reporters. “This is orchestrated. There is a whole team of people, mainly from the party side, who are running a campaign that has nothing to do with negotiations.

“The Soviets are always complaining in Washington about demonstrations being allowed too close to their embassy and next time they complain, we will give them chapter and verse on this,” said Hartman.

The Soviets marked the 25th anniversary of manned orbital flight. Page 22