Arms Talks End in Moscow; No Results Given

High-level Soviet and American officials Wednesday concluded two days of talks designed to spur progress toward agreement at the bogged-down Geneva arms control negotiations.

Results of the talks were not disclosed. In Washington, however, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the meeting was “an important step leading to a summit” between President Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, news agencies reported. Speakes cautioned, however, that the outcome of the talks “remains to be seen.”

The seven-member U.S. delegation, led by veteran arms adviser Paul H. Nitze and including Assistant Defense Secretary Richard N. Perle, a hard-liner on arms control matters, left Moscow without a word on what that outcome might be.

A Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman said the meetings were held in a “businesslike” atmosphere but chided the Reagan Administration for its “uncertain trumpet” on nuclear arms policy.

At the same time, however, the spokesman said a series of joint meetings on other issues will be held to improve prospects for another superpower summit.

Hope for a Fresh Start

The Moscow discussions were called in hopes of providing impetus to Geneva arms talks resuming Sept. 18 and to a Washington conference between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze. These two officials are expected to decide after their Sept. 19-20 meeting whether to arrange summit talks this year.

Gorbachev has declared that there is no point in a second summit without progress on arms control, so the Moscow discussions could have a big impact on whether the Soviet leader travels to the United States this year. Reagan and Gorbachev held their first summit in Geneva last November.

The arms control experts, with chief Geneva negotiator Viktor P. Karpov leading the Soviet delegation, met at a government hideaway in the outskirts of Moscow.

Both sides agreed to keep their conversations confidential, and the arrival of the American team and the meetings themselves were never mentioned in the controlled Soviet media.

No Problem for Soviets

“For us, confidentiality is not a problem,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said at a news briefing.

He said, however, that White House Communications Director Patrick J. Buchanan told television interviewers that the Nitze group in Moscow was not prepared to make concessions on Reagan’s space-based defense system popularly known as “Star Wars.”

This shows, Gerasimov said with a touch of sarcasm, that the program is regarded in some Washington circles as a sacred cow and “they do not want Reagan, the cowboy, to lose the cow.”.

Buchanan’s statement, he said, showed a lack of flexibility on the American side and illustrated how Washington was sounding an “uncertain trumpet” on arms control issues.

The Soviet spokesman, however, refused to characterize the President’s latest letter to Gorbachev on space and nuclear weapons, saying only that it is being studied with serious attention.