Arms Talks Will Resume : Probably in Washington, White House Reports

Senior American and Soviet arms negotiators who held two days of talks in Moscow this week will meet again soon, probably in Washington, to continue their discussions, it was announced today.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said the Moscow discussions were “serious, substantive and businesslike” and characterized them as “a good exchange.”

He declined to say whether the meeting produced any progress on narrowing the differences on arms issues. “Don’t want to characterize,” he said. “Be afraid to.”

The next round of talks will involve basically the same top-level teams of negotiators for each side, Speakes said. The U.S. team was led by veteran negotiator Paul H. Nitze, chief adviser to President Reagan on arms issues, while the Soviet delegation was led by Viktor Karpov, the Kremlin’s chief negotiator in Geneva and head of a new disarmament department in the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

Date to Be Set Soon

Both teams included other senior negotiators on arms issues.

Speakes said a date for the next meeting will be fixed through diplomatic channels within the next few days.

He said the talks are intended to support the regular arms control talks in Geneva and a meeting Sept. 19-20 between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to set the stage for a superpower summit.

“We remain committed to our invitation for a summit in the United States this year,” Speakes said.