Reykjavik Was a Soviet Ploy to Avoid U.S. Summit, Briton Says

British Defense Secretary George Younger said Tuesday that he believes the Reagan Administration was lured into the Reykjavik meeting as part of a Soviet ploy to avoid the summit scheduled for later this year in the United States.

Younger said the arms control proposal made by the Soviets at Reykjavik was “ill-defined” and “hastily patched up,” and he praised President Reagan for refusing to accept it.

He appeared to criticize Washington’s post-Reykjavik arms control strategy because proposals for the elimination of all ballistic missiles were not directly linked to progress in cutting conventional and chemical weapons in Europe, in which the Soviets have a substantial advantage.

European Discomfort

Younger’s comments reflected a general discomfort among European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, both with the speed of events at Reykjavik and with the Reagan Administration’s expressed willingness since to discuss sweeping reductions in nuclear weapons without also emphasizing the need for progress in limiting non-nuclear arms.

Younger said his government could go along with the removal of all medium-range missiles from Europe, as Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev tentatively agreed to do at Reykjavik. And he described the reduction of Soviet and American strategic weapons by up to 50% as “practical and well worth going for.”

“But the chief European concern,” he said, “is that once you are beyond 50% it is absolutely vital that other arms components must be brought in. We need satisfactory answers in the areas of conventional, chemical and biological weapons.”

Referring to the Reagan Administration’s most recent arms control proposal, which sets a goal of eliminating all ballistic missiles in 10 years, Younger said, “Europeans are happy to discuss deep cuts, provided that those discussions take other areas into account.”

50% Reduction Proposed

The newest U.S. proposals, which reportedly will be submitted this week at the arms talks in Geneva, are said to include a call for a 50% reduction in strategic nuclear arsenals in five years’ time, followed by the elimination of all these weapons within a decade.

Younger said he believes that, for Moscow, the real objective of the Reykjavik meeting was to get Gorbachev out of a commitment to a summit meeting in the United States, the outcome of which would be unpredictable and likely to expose him to criticism.