U.S. Wants Mid-Range Soviet Arms at 1 Base : Will Propose Concentration of Kremlin’s Euromissiles at Siberia Site in Draft Treaty

The United States will present a new proposal on intermediate-range missiles to Soviet negotiators today that would require Moscow to station all its 100 allowed warheads in a single base near Novosibirsk in Siberia, where they would not be able to reach most of Western Europe and Japan.

The proposal, informed sources say, represents the official U.S. response to a Soviet offer made last weekend in which Moscow proposed to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe and to limit each side to 100 medium-range warheads elsewhere.

The new U.S. draft treaty calls for such intrusive, on-site inspection measures to monitor the agreement that at least two of the five North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations affected--Britain and West Germany--have balked at approving them, U.S. and allied sources said. Their objections may delay submission of details of the verification proposals, the sources said.

President Reagan, announcing on national television Tuesday that U.S. negotiators in Geneva will begin presenting a treaty proposal to Soviet diplomats today, welcomed the latest Soviet offer but stressed that the most important issue that remains to be resolved is verification procedures.

Shultz Trip Expected

Secretary of State George P. Shultz is expected to go to Moscow this month, between rounds of the Geneva talks on intermediate-range nuclear forces, for high-level discussions with Soviet officials on the issue, as well as on other arms control efforts, the sources said. These efforts cover conventional, chemical and nuclear offensive and defensive weapons.

In its proposal, Moscow said that an agreement on intermediate-range missiles in Europe could be signed independent of other nuclear missile issues and space defense programs--the Administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative--which Reagan has insisted not be subject to negotiation. The Soviets took the same position earlier last year but reversed it after the U.S.-Soviet summit in Iceland collapsed in October over the SDI issue.

Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev agreed in Iceland to eliminate from Europe all warheads for intermediate-range missiles, which have a range of 1,000 to 3,000 miles, and to allow each side 100 warheads elsewhere. The Soviet force would be deployed beyond the Ural Mountains in Asia and the U.S. force in the Northern Hemisphere.

In Congress, Republicans hailed Gorbachev’s latest offer as proof that the President’s arms control strategy has been successful.

“We are where we are--potentially nearing a historic agreement, the first ever to reduce nuclear weapons--precisely because of Ronald Reagan’s arms control strategy,” said Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

Major Differences

But major differences remain on issues such as controlling shorter-range missiles, under 1,000 miles in range, that might be used by the Soviets to substitute for any intermediate-range weapons they withdraw; on how deep into Asia the 100 allowed Soviet warheads missiles must be placed; on the pace of eliminating the weapons in Europe and reducing them elsewhere, and on verification to guard against cheating.

U.S. negotiators in Geneva, led by Ambassador Max M. Kampelman, will return to Washington for consultations later this week, Reagan said, after which they will resume their negotiations. The Geneva negotiations on intermediate-range forces, which were to have recessed today, will be extended about a week and may resume somewhat before the usual six-week break ends.

Senior Administration officials, briefing reporters after Reagan read his statement, said that all of the normally contentious arms control bureaucracy--the Pentagon, State Department and other responsible agencies--are “solidly unified” in supporting the draft treaty, but the officials declined to provide details.

Orders From Carlucci

The President’s new national security adviser, Frank C. Carlucci, ordered the bureaucracy to put the draft treaty together over the last month, U.S. sources said.

The combination of the Soviet and U.S. moves now makes it likely that an agreement will be reached this year, sources said, although about six months of hard work on hammering out differences and converting general statements into precise language are expected.

Administration officials already are turning beyond the agreement to anticipated difficulties with allies and friends. France, for example, strongly opposes an agreement on missiles in Europe, as well as negotiations to reduce conventional arms, and China may contend that such a move will “export” the missiles from Europe to its borders.

The provision of the U.S. draft treaty calling for all Soviet intermediate missile systems to be located at one base in Western Siberia is likely to be opposed by the Kremlin, at least initially.

Vulnerable to Attack

Although the intermediate-range systems of both sides are mobile, they would be more vulnerable to surprise attack if all were deployed in a single defined area. The Soviets may also object on principle to being told where to site their weapons.

However, the United States is expected to argue that such controls are required if the Soviets continue their demand that U.S. medium-range missiles be barred from Alaskan bases, where they would be within range of Soviet targets. Moreover, keeping such weapons in a defined area would simplify the verification process.

West Germany and Britain have expressed strong opposition to a U.S. verification plan in which Soviet officers would be present on their soil to witness the dismantling and destruction of U.S. weapons in excess of the permitted 100 that would be withdrawn--even though U.S. officers would be on Soviet soil for the same verification function.

Times staff writer Sara Fritz contributed to this story.