Despite a Rebuff, Reagan Still Talks to Soviet People : Gorbachev Says He Will Push for Arms Cutback

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Wednesday that he will push harder in 1987 for reduction of nuclear and conventional arms but added that it is up to Washington to make the next move.

Gorbachev said the Soviet people want to live in peace with Americans, and he reaffirmed his belief in the need for mutual security arrangements.

“Only together can we perish or survive,” he said.

His remarks were made in response to a series of written questions submitted by Kingsbury Smith, national editor of the New York-based Hearst newspapers. Tass, the Soviet news agency, published the full text.

In a televised New Year’s message to the Soviet people, Gorbachev struck a now-familiar theme of his leadership by appealing to his countrymen to work harder. “We know full well--nobody will do anything for us, nobody will resolve our tasks and problems. We have to do everything ourselves, and this means that every one of us must work harder, much harder.”

Ringing of Kremlin Chimes

Gorbachev made no direct references to the United States in his televised speech that ended with the ringing of the Kremlin chimes heralding the New Year. He spoke only of the policy of “some governments,” which he said were not responding to their peoples’ aspirations for an end to the arms race.

However, in response to Smith’s questions, Gorbachev charged that the American delegation at the arms control talks in Geneva has “moved backward” since the summit meeting last October in Iceland.

“We are for talks that would get out of the state of being fruitless and inert and would acquire real dynamism,” he said. “We pressed for this in (Iceland), and we shall press for it still more vigorously in 1987. I am convinced that a radical turn in the talks would meet the vital interests of the American people as well.”

New Round of Talks

The next round of U.S.-Soviet talks in Geneva is scheduled to start Jan. 17. There seems to be little prospect of early agreement in view of the friction that has developed between Moscow and Washington.

Arthur A. Hartman, the U.S. ambassador here, said recently that the Soviet Union appears to be more interested in making propaganda than in serious arms control negotiations.

Gorbachev said the American stand on nuclear arms “disappoints us deeply.” He mentioned the U.S. refusal to join in a Soviet moratorium on nuclear testing and the U.S. decision to go beyond the limits on nuclear weapons set out in the second strategic arms limitation treaty. The draft treaty, negotiated in 1979, has never been ratified by the United States but both sides had agreed informally to stay within its limits.

However, the United States has accused the Soviet Union of violating the terms of the treaty by developing two new missiles and encoding telemetry during flight tests. Late last year, the United States departed from the limits set in the pact on launchers by deploying a B-52 bomber modified to carry cruise missiles.

“Deliberately and pointedly wrecking old treaties does not help the conduct of successful talks on new agreements,” Gorbachev said. “This is a serious problem that deserves the closest attention.

‘Most Radical Reductions’

“We are for agreements on the most radical reductions in arms, both nuclear and conventional. Now the ball is in Washington’s side of the court.”

Gorbachev said Moscow favors an agreement with the United States on defining the limits on laboratory research that would be allowed U.S. scientists working on President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the space-based missile defense system known as “Star Wars.”

“In this issue, too, things depend not on us but on Washington,” Gorbachev said. “People in Washington should decide finally in utter clarity what they want: a runaway arms race or reduction and elimination of weapons. A good deal depends on this choice.”

In Palm Springs, Calif., where President Reagan is celebrating the New Year’s holiday, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said there were “certain aspects” of Gorbachev’s remarks with which the United States agreed.

“He’s called for peace and the desire for the pursuit of peace in 1987,” Speakes said. “. . . We’ll continue to discuss arms control with the Soviets and we know there’s a reasonable hope of progress on our part and we hope that they will approach the talks with diligence and with a desire--the same desire we have to work out a solution,” he said. “It can be done.”

Asked about the foundation for his optimism about progress, the U.S. spokesman said:

“There was progress made in a number of areas in Reykjavik. The Soviets laid on the table and we agreed to progress in conventional weapons and a number of other areas.”

“It will take hard work, it will take dedication to the goal of arms control. For our part, we’re prepared to pursue that goal,” Speakes said.