Kohl, Mitterrand Ask Soviet Troop Cuts

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand declared Tuesday that any U.S.-Soviet agreement to remove intermediate-range missiles from Europe must by accompanied by reductions in Soviet conventional forces.

A statement issued by the two leaders after a meeting in Frankfurt said that the removal of U.S. intermediate-range missiles should be carried out in such a way that does not endanger the security of West Germany and France.

In Reykjavik, Iceland, President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev talked earlier this month about removing intermediate-range U.S. Pershing 2 and cruise missiles from Western Europe in exchange for the removal of Soviet SS-20 missiles targeted on Western Europe--the so-called zero-zero option.

“The underlying thought,” Kohl said, “is that European security must not be decoupled from the security of the United States and, second, that it must not be possible in the future to conduct wars in Europe.

“If one were to aim for a solution that would remove missiles without at the same time including the Soviet Union’s enormous advantage in conventional forces . . . the thesis that wars should not be possible would be restricted.”

Kohl said the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization need to meet to discuss arms control and then present their views to the United States.

In agreeing with Kohl on the danger of pulling out all intermediate nuclear missiles, Mitterrand said, “I am by no means hostile to considering the ‘zero option,’ but I am waiting to hear in what context it would be.”

Some European leaders were upset to learn that Reagan had suggested in Iceland the scrapping of all nuclear weapons on both sides, a step that in the European view would leave the NATO countries in a conventional military stance inferior to that of the Warsaw Pact forces deployed in Eastern Europe.

According to estimates by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Warsaw Pact has 2,680,000 troops deployed in Europe, to 2,090,000 for NATO. With 52,600 battle tanks, the Communist forces have more than double the 20,333 tanks that the Western forces have. The Warsaw Pact has a more than 3 to 1 advantage in artillery and anti-tank weapons; a 2,500-aircraft advantage, and an overwhelming margin in surface-to-air missiles (5,808 to 880) and surface-to-surface missile launchers (1,570 to 365). Only in anti-aircraft guns do the Western allies have superior numbers--5,654 to 4,506.

France maintains an independent nuclear deterrent force, and Mitterrand said the arms control issue should be part of an agreement that takes into consideration short-range, intermediate-range and intercontinental strategic missiles.

In another area, Mitterrand said his regime will not compromise with countries proved to have been involved in terrorist activities.

Speaking on French television, Mitterrand said the countries of the European Communities need more time to examine Britain’s charge that Syria conspired to blow up an Israeli airliner departing from a London airport in April.

France was one of the European Communities countries that voted against immediately taking action against Syria, as the British proposed at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.

“There can be no compromise with terrorism,” Mitterrand said, “and particularly not with states which engage in terrorism.”

He had said earlier that there was “no question” of France’s selling arms to Syria, although two French newspapers reported last week that the French government was considering a multimillion-dollar deal involving heavy armor and artillery for the Damascus regime.

The French government is also said to be reluctant to take action against Syria because seven French citizens are being held as hostages in Lebanon by Syrian-backed militants and because of the possibility of further Mideast-inspired bomb attacks in Paris.