U.S. Preparing New Arms Proposals, Soviet Aide Says

Arms control proposals now being discussed by U.S. policy-makers represent “a big step forward” toward nuclear disarmament, a Kremlin spokesman said Monday.

The spokesman, Viktor G. Afanysev, chief editor of Pravda, the main organ of the Soviet Communist Party, made the appraisal after a fact-finding visit to the United States on behalf of the Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union’s nominal parliament.

Writing in Pravda, Afanysev said that U.S. officials, not identified, are considering ‘tangible agreements” on nuclear arms reduction that are necessary before the Soviet Union will attend another summit conference.

He said that in Moscow’s view, President Reagan will survive the controversy over secret arms sales to Iran.

“We have formed a firm impression that Reagan will not be dethroned--that ‘Irangate’ will not turn into Watergate,” Afanysev said. “The Soviet Union will not play up the (Iranian) affair. We have not written off Reagan and don’t intend to. We are prepared to talk to him.”

Afanysev’s view that the United States is preparing new proposals on arms control could indicate that Moscow will stop accusing Washington of trying to retreat from positions taken at the Iceland summit meeting last October of Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

He said the proposals now under discussion among U.S. officials still fall short of what Gorbachev proposed in Iceland but represent “a big step forward in nuclear disarmament.”

U.S. officials in Moscow have been pessimistic about the chances for an arms control accord on grounds that the Kremlin seems more interested in appealing to public opinion than in bargaining at the Geneva talks.