U.S. Sees Limited Progress on Arms; None, Says Soviet

GENEVA — American and Soviet arms negotiators made “limited but useful progress” in four days of talks here this week, Max M. Kampelman, the chief U.S. negotiator, said Friday.

Kampelman added, however, in a written statement handed to reporters after a final plenary meeting, that in 17 negotiating sessions since Tuesday there had been “no substantive changes in points of disagreement.”

The chief Soviet negotiator, Viktor P. Karpov, told the press that “there was no progress,” and he blamed the United States for “failing to respond to Soviet proposals.”

The United States is blocking agreement, Karpov said, by pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative--the “Star Wars” program--and has added to arms control difficulties by exceeding the limits set forth in the SALT II agreement. He said this “could have serious consequences.”

In Moscow, meanwhile, it was announced that the Soviet Union has no present plans to abandon the limitations of SALT II.

Talks Resume Jan. 15

The next round of negotiations is scheduled to begin here Jan. 15. The special four-day session just concluded has turned out to be one of the most intensive since the talks began in March, 1985. It was convened to review the positions of both sides in light of the October summit conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the inconclusive follow-up meeting last month in Vienna of Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.

According to sources in the U.S. delegation, new Soviet proposals were put forth here this week calling for a 10-year limit on development and testing under the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The sources gave no details of the Soviet proposals, but Kampelman’s statement indicates that they are not acceptable to Washington, at least in their present form.

Nevertheless, the Americans expressed encouragement that the new proposals, together with the intensity of the discussions, indicate a readiness to keep the negotiations moving.

Moreover, even though the proposals are not acceptable to Washington, they are understood to represent a position less rigid than that taken by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev at Reykjavik. There the Soviets insisted on limiting the Strategic Defense Initiative to laboratory work, which its U.S. backers say would have the effect of killing the program.

Seeking ‘Star Wars’ Limits

“The Soviets now realize full well, after more than two years of debating and negotiating, that there is no way they are going to kill the ‘Star Wars’ program, a member of the U.S. delegation said. “But they seem very interested in talking about the subject, to see what kind of limitations they might be able to get.”

The Soviets would spell out in detail how far development and testing could go under a 10-year extension of the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty.

So far, though, they show no sign of being ready to drop their “package approach” of linking agreement on strategic missiles and European-based intermediate-range missiles with agreement on limiting space defense development. The United States, and European governments as well, have urged that negotiations on European missiles go forward separately.

Kampelman said in his statement: “We particularly regretted that the Soviets continue to hold progress in eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles hostage to Soviet demands in other areas, in spite of earlier assurances to the contrary by leading Soviet officials. But we expected that.”

He said the outcome of this special session “was in the main positive. It is necessary to be patient, and we are patient.”