Kremlin Asks Geneva Meeting on U.S. Abandonment of SALT II

The Soviet Union has proposed a special meeting of a U.S.-Soviet arms control commission in Geneva next month to discuss President Reagan’s decision to cease abiding by the 1979 SALT II agreement, the White House confirmed Monday.

The Administration has not decided how to respond to the Soviet proposal, which was delivered last week through “normal diplomatic channels,” said one official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified. Pentagon officials and conservatives in the Administration wish to reject the request, but State Department officials say they would accept it.

Those opposed to such a meeting say it appears that Moscow is interested in using the special session primarily to launch a propaganda attack on the United States, rather than to seriously explore the reasons for the President’s decision. They discount the need for a special session next month, noting that the next regular meeting of the panel, the Special Consultative Commission, is scheduled for September.

Heard It All Before

“The Soviets have heard all our positions for five years on SALT II--they won’t learn anything new,” another official said. “And they haven’t responded substantively or even tried to. They just say they aren’t guilty of violations but haven’t attempted any explanation.”

Moreover, the Soviets had rejected a 1983 call by the United States for the same kind of extraordinary meeting of the commission on grounds that a regular session was scheduled in several weeks. The United States had intended to present complaints that construction of a new radar facility in Siberia violated the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty--complaints that are now almost unanimously accepted in the West as accurate.

Those in favor of holding a special session next month, on the other hand, argue that the United States has a good case to make and that it should be made again. Acceding to the Soviet proposal would also mute criticism of the United States for not using the commission sufficiently in its public battles with Moscow over allegations of cheating. The commission was set up, under the 1972 ABM Treaty, specifically to hear such complaints.

U.S. Won’t Be Bound

A month ago, Reagan announced that the United States would no longer be bound by the second strategic arms limitation treaty, or SALT II, which was never ratified and whose terms called for its expiration in 1985. He cited Soviet violations of the agreement in taking the step. Until that move, the President had promised “not to undercut” terms of the agreement as long as the Soviets did the same.

Reagan also announced that the United States this fall would deploy a B-52 bomber with cruise missiles without dismantling a comparable weapons system, thereby breaching a numerical weapons ceiling specified in SALT II. However, he has refused to call the arms pact “dead” and hinted that he might reverse his decision if Moscow returns to compliance.