Soviets Float Possibility of Summit; U.S. Denies Plans

Soviet diplomats today said there could be a Reykjavik-style summit in a neutral location this spring between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, but a White House spokesman denied knowledge of any such plans.

In Moscow, a senior Western diplomat said that the Soviets are spreading rumors about a possible meeting but that there has been no actual planning. The diplomat said Washington, however, is keeping open its offer of a formal summit in the United States.

Soviet diplomats in Geneva were apparently using the news media to float suggestions of another superpower summit on the lines of the informal Reagan-Gorbachev talks in Reykjavik, Iceland, last Oct. 11-12.

One Soviet diplomatic source said “there is talk” about a meeting in March or April, either in Geneva or another neutral location.

An American official in Geneva denied knowledge of any new summit meeting, but had heard that Soviet diplomats “are floating such a rumor.”

In Washington, deputy White House spokesman Dan Howard said, “I don’t think there’s anything to it at all.” He said that the United States is “still serious about having a summit,” but that “stories about feelers from us are feelers from them.”

But the Soviet diplomatic source claimed it is the United States that is suggesting a meeting at a neutral site.

“This idea has come from Washington and Geneva has been mentioned,” the source said. “It would be informal like at Reykjavik, and March or April are being talked about.”

Reagan’s popularity dropped in the polls after revelations late last year about U.S. arms sales to Iran and there have been suggestions in Washington that he might benefit from publicity generated by a superpower summit and subsequent agreements.