U.S. Won’t Let Daniloff’s Detention Disrupt Talks

The White House said Monday that the detention of an American journalist in Moscow “can’t help U.S.-Soviet relations” and called for his immediate release.

But at the same time, President Reagan’s spokesman made it clear that the Administration will seek to avoid letting the incident disrupt the approaching round of meetings with Soviet officials on arms control and other subjects.

“We are angry,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said. “The President is clearly disturbed and concerned.”

Speakes made the comments before the Washington Post reported from Moscow that Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov indicated that the Kremlin intends to put Nicholas Daniloff of U.S. News & World Report on trial for espionage.

Daniloff’s detention left the Administration in the position of trying to decide on the proper response as it moves toward talks intended to lead to a second meeting of the President and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev by the end of 1986. Gerasimov, according to the Post, indicated that the Daniloff case would not interfere with summit preparations, as far as Moscow was concerned.

Cautious Response

The relatively cautious initial response on the part of the White House spokesman was in marked contrast with the United States’ reaction to other incidents involving U.S. relations with the Soviet Union.

While the Administration appeared Monday to be clearly annoyed by Daniloff’s detention, Speakes’ restrained comments appeared to indicate that, for the time being at least, care was being taken to maintain U.S.-Soviet relations on an even keel.

A senior Administration official, speaking on the condition that he not be identified by name, said that no decisions have been made “specifically about our future course of action, although we do leave our options open.”

Speakes, referring to the importance of a top-level U.S.-Soviet meeting, said in a briefing for reporters that “things seem to get done in the period leading up to a summit, and we think it is important that we meet.”

Thus, he said, while the United States views Daniloff’s detention “very seriously, . . . we believe the summit is a potentially important event and we will continue to pursue our discussions with the Soviet Union on summit issues.”

A Human Rights Issue

However, he remarked that the incident in Moscow was, in its broadest sense, a human rights issue, and “one of the summit issues is, of course, human rights.”

Daniloff was seized Saturday by eight KGB agents on a Moscow street after a Soviet acquaintance handed him a package, reportedly saying it contained local newspaper clippings. The KGB, the secret police agency, said Sunday that the packet contained “top secret” maps and that Daniloff had been caught while “engaging in an act of espionage.”

In Santa Barbara, Speakes said: “We reject the charges as being contrived and call for Mr. Daniloff’s immediate release. The Soviets are trying to make Daniloff a hostage to contrived charges and this will not work.”

Over the Labor Day weekend, which Reagan spent at his ranch north of Santa Barbara, Under Secretary of State Michael H. Armacost met with the deputy chief of mission of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, and U.S. officials in Moscow spoke twice with Soviet Foreign Ministry officials, Speakes said.

He said Reagan has “asked officials in the Administration to do everything possible to secure (the) immediate release” of the reporter. He said, however, in response to a question at the news briefing, that there had been no direct contact between the President and Gorbachev on this matter.

Retaliation for Arrest

The correspondent’s wife, Ruth Daniloff, who has met twice with her husband since Saturday, has said he believes his detention is in retaliation for the arrest in New York on Aug. 23 of Gennady F. Zakharov, a Soviet citizen employed at the United Nations. Zakharov has been charged with spying and has no diplomatic immunity.

Asked whether the United States would seek to swap Daniloff for Zakharov, who is being held without bond, Speakes said he would not speculate “on our course of action.”

But he said there has been no change in the busy schedule of U.S.-Soviet meetings coming up. These include a meeting of senior aides planned for the end of the week, and a visit by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to Washington for meetings with Secretary of State George P. Shultz on Sept. 19 and 20.